Snatched from the Jaws of Victory….

On Wednesday, January 31, the House of Representatives passed a Continuing Resolution (CR) that will continue funding government agencies through the end of the fiscal year (September 30, 2007). The bill now moves to the Senate, where it is expected to pass. The CR contains an additional $2.3 billion in funds that have been restored for Labor-HHS-Education appropriations (which includes funding for cancer research, prevention and related programs). Read what C3 did to support the restoration of funds here.

There is definitely good news in this. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) receive an overall increase of $620 million, including $483 million that will be used for inter-agency research programs. And the boost in NIH funding was accompanied by calls from Senators Harkin (D-IA) and Specter (R-PA), the chair and ranking member of the Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee, to increase momentum for health research funding in 2008. Senator Specter remarked, “I look forward to working with Senator Harkin to further increase funding levels for these departments, which have not even kept up with inflation.”

However, we at C3 are not celebrating. Unfortunately, despite the best efforts of cancer advocates, the increase does not translate into a clear funding victory for colorectal cancer or other cancer patients. Instead, the overall increase provided to the National Cancer Institute (NCI) remains small (probably about $46 million, when adjusting for programmatic accounting shifts). And the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) receives the same funding for cancer prevention programs as in 2006.

Yes, the outcome could have been much worse, but we are not pleased that the overall appropriations increase, in the end, translates to less than 1% for direct cancer research – not enough to keep up with inflation…yet again.

This victory will be a hollow one for cancer patients, those who are seeking better cancer treatments now and in the future – unless we really are able to hold Congress’s feet to the fire this year and insist that colorectal cancer become a priority and that NCI and CDC programs be dramatically augmented in fiscal year 2008 and well into the future.

Just two weeks ago, the President announced that cancer deaths are declining because research, education, screening and treatment have improved. But that good news can’t be shared with more than 50,000 Americans who died from colon and rectal cancer last year! And any reaction to the favorable announcement of declining deaths must be accompanied by our absolute rejection of continued Presidential cuts to cancer funding and Congressional “flat funding” of NCI and CDC.

Last year, C3 was learning the ropes, and we produced an extraordinary effort by our advocates to save funding from draconian cuts. The “victory” on the continuing resolution demonstrates how important our work is. It shows how much cancer advocates can and are influencing the course of their government’s decisions, but it also clearly shows how much farther we have to go this year!

The battle is just beginning, and we intend to show Washington, DC what we’re made of when we Call-On Congress in March.

Posted by Jim Wetekam on February 3rd, 2007
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