Department of Warm Blankets

Harold Ford Jr. and Al From have come up with an "ambitious" goal to create an American Center for Cures which would be a "cabinet-level authority charged with fighting life-threatening disease."

While the idea sounds great, I can't find any difference between this ACC and the National Institute of Health:

The National Institutes of Health (NIH), a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the primary Federal agency for conducting and supporting medical research. Helping to lead the way toward important medical discoveries that improve people's health and save lives, NIH scientists investigate ways to prevent disease as well as the causes, treatments, and even cures for common and rare diseases. Composed of 27 Institutes and Centers, the NIH provides leadership and financial support to researchers in every state and throughout the world.

The NIH has an annual budget of about $28 billion dollars, most of which is funneled to universities and research labs to find treatments and cures for diseases.

Now, I guess the difference would be that this ACC would have a cabinet level post, the title of which is the Director of Cures; while the NIH is under the Dept. of Health and Human Services. Otherwise, it sort of reminds me of Dennis Kucinich's idea of a Department of Peace; which is more symbolic than necessary, as the State Department, under the right leadership, is supposed to essentially be a Department of Peace.

p.s. It also seems as though this isn't the most original idea, as Joe Lieberman and Thad Cochran proposed this in 2005.