WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican presidential contender Newt Gingrich on Monday said Alzheimer's disease is on pace to cost the government some $20 trillion over the next four decades and said boosting federal research money would be a wise investment.

Gingrich, the top Republican in the House during the 1990s, is mounting a presidential campaign on the premise he is a policy heavyweight who can lead a fractured GOP field. His speech to Alzheimer's advocates meeting in the capital largely eschewed politics but made clear his hopes to run as an idea man.

"I want to know, not what we can afford in the federal budget. I what to know what (researchers) can do if they have the resources they need to accelerate the breakthroughs to save lives and to save money," Gingrich said.