Talk to Congress; OVAC Lobby Day April 25 and 26, 2006

Come to Washington, D.D. to learn about colorectal cancer advocacy and speak up for increased federal funding for cancer research, treatment and screening. C3 advocates will be part of the annual One Voice Against Cancer (OVAC) Lobby Day on Tuesday, April 25th and Wednesday, April 26th, 2006.

• Tuesday morning: C3 Grassroots Connections–learn how to use our tools to make a difference nationally and locally by increasing colorectal cancer awareness, supporting screening legislation and connecting with Congress.
• Tuesday afternoon: OVAC– get the information and skills you need to talk to Congress about funding for cancer research and prevention.
• Wednesday: OVAC–press our case in Congressinal offices using materials and skills from Tuesday.

Advocates participating in the OVAC “Lobby Days” must pay for their own lodging and transportation to Washington, D.C. C3 and OVAC cover the registration fee and training costs.

Congressional visits provide a unique opportunity for advocates to share how cancer has touched their lives. Having strong C3 participation during OVAC Lobby Days helps us educate our policy makers in Washington about the need for additonal research funds for colorectal cancer.

Registration and hotel information will be posted on the C3 web site as soon as it is available. If you have questions or comments about Lobby Day, please contact the C3 office at 202-244-2906 or send an email to the C3 Grassroots Coordinator. You can also go to the C3 Advocates in Action message board to participate in discussions about Lobby Days and other advocacy issues.

Posted by Dusty Weaver on January 18th, 2006
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NCI Comments on Its FY 2006 Budget

Last month Congress passed and the President signed the fiscal year (FY) 2006 Labor-HHS approriations bill. The following article from the January 1, 2006 edition of the NCI Cancer Bulletin gives us NCI’s view on the effect of the reduced funding the bill provides:

FY 2006 NCI Budget Update

On December 30, President Bush signed the appropriations bill for the Departments of Labor/HHS and Related Agencies for fiscal year 2006. The bill includes $28.6 billion for NIH and $4.842 billion for NCI. However, there is a 1 percent across-the-board reduction that reduces the NIH and NCI budget amounts by $286 million and $48 million, respectively. The revised amount for NCI is $4.793 billion, which is $32 million less than what NCI obligated last year.

In a message to NCI staff, NCI Deputy Director Dr. John Niederhuber noted that “Over the past few years, we have become accustomed to adjusting to budget constraints and the current year is no different. It remains critical that we continue to engage in careful planning, monitoring, and reporting of progress made towards NCI’s challenge goal to eliminate the suffering and death due to cancer. NCI’s Strategic Priorities are a clear signal of where we will be focusing our valuable resources in the year ahead and beyond.”

Click here to read the original article.

Posted by Dusty Weaver on January 13th, 2006
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Senate Passes Labor-HHS FY2006 Appropriations Bill

Wednesday, December 21 the Senate passed by unanimous consent the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and related agencies (Labor-HHS) Fiscal Year (FY) 2006 Appropriations Bill (HR 3010). This is the bill which provides funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Cancer Institutes (NCI), Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) among other agencies of interest to the cancer community.

The bill increased the NIH budget by $253 million (0.89%) over FY 2005 making it one of the few agencies in the massive $142.5 billion Labor-HHS bill to receive an increase. This is well under the $1 billion increase in the original Senate version of the bill and conderably less than the $1.7 billion increase recommended by One Voice Against Cancer.

While we are fortunate NIH received an increase, albeit at an unacceptable one, Congress also approved a one percent across-the-board cut to all discretionary domestic programs. This will wipe out the modest gain NIH received and turn the increase into a decrease.

Nancy Roach, President of C3, said this about the NIH funding in the Labor-HHS bill:

“The bottom line is that NIH is now facing its first cut in funding in more than 35 years. I don’t know when we will understand the specific impact of this action on NCI funding.”

While we must wait for specifics from NIH and other agencies on how this bill will impact their cancer-related programs an article published in the December 6, 2005 edition of the NCI Cancer Bulletin provides a hint at what will happen. Here is a quote from the article:

“In the interim, and as discussed at the NIH Director’s Advisory Committee meeting on December 1, noncompeting research grant awards will be made at a level of approximately 80 percent of the previously committed level. Upward adjustments to these levels will be considered after the final 2006 budget level is established. Competing renewal awards also are being made at approximately 80 percent of current levels until more definitive budget information is available. NCI leadership has advised that recipients continue to monitor their expenditures carefully during this period.”

While we do need to wait for official word from NIH it looks like there will be a 20 percent cut in the funding level of noncompeting research grant awards. One thing is for sure with the small increase removed by a larger across-the-board cut there will be less money for research and other activities.

While I am upset that Congress passed these funding levels I am perhaps more mad at the way the Senate did it. As I mentioned at the start of this post the Senate adopted the bill by unanimous consent. This is a procedure in which a motion can pass if no one present objects. This differs from a roll call vote when each Senator’s name is called and the Senator must say “yea” or “nay” on the motion.

Since the Senate passed the Labor-HHS approriations bill by unanimous consent there is no public record of whether or not each Senator supported or opposed the bill, thus we constituents have no way of knowing how our Senators would have voted. I want to know why the Senate did not go on record with this vote. I know time is short and they wanted to go home for the end-of-year recess but bills like this are too important not to go on record with a roll call vote.

Nancy ended her email with this:

“I watched this on CSPAN2 last night - not a very cheerful event. The only positive note is that it could have been much worse - the initial iterations included larger hard cuts to NIH. Constituent pressure made the difference, so thank you all for your efforts, and stay tuned for next year.”

Those of you who contacted your Senators and Representatives about the Labor-HHS Appropriations Bill did have an effect. It did not pass the House the first time through and was having a rough time in the Senate.

You made a difference one person at a time.

Posted by Dusty Weaver on December 22nd, 2005
Posted in: Policy & Advocacy News | 3 Comments »

Senate Likely to Vote on H.R. 3010 Tomorrow

Friday last week I wrote my two Senators (Lincoln and Pryor) to express my opposition to the conference report on H.R. 3010 which is the fiscal year 2006 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (Labor-HHS) Appropriations Bill. It does not adequately fund National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) cancer programs.

Today I received an email from the health legislative assistant (health LA) to Senator Lincoln. Here is what the health LA said:

It’s good to hear from you. Sen. Lincoln is deeply disappointed in the conference report and plans to oppose it. It is likely that this will come up for a vote tomorrow. We appreciate hearing from you!

Some thoughts on this:

I’m glad the Senator is dissappointed in the conference report but I am espcially glad she plans to oppose it. It is easy to say your are dissappointed in legislation. More than her words of opposition I want her nay vote when the conference report comes to the Senate floor.

Since it looks like this will come up for a vote Wednesday, December 21 there is very little time left for constituents opposing H.R. 3010 to tell their Senators to vote against it. The Senate convines at 9 AM eastern (8 AM central, 7 AM mountian, 6 AM pacific) so if you want to make one last call you need to do it shortly after 9 AM eastern.

You can dial (202) 224-3121 which is the U.S. Senate switchboard. Tell the operator the name of your Senator and you will be connected. When the Senator’s office answers the phone tell them you have a message for your Senator reguarding the H.R. 3010 conference report (aka Fiscal Year 2006 Labor-HHS Apprproations Bill).

Say you want the Senator to vote no because the bill provides inadequate funding for NIH, NCI and CDC cancer programs. You need to tell them your name and address so the office will know you are a constituent.

The words “We appreciate hearing from you!” are not just a nice closing to the email. Our elected officials really do appreciate hearing from us constituents. This is especially so when we tell them what issue we are interested in, our link to the issue and exactly what we want the official to do.

Posted by Dusty Weaver on December 20th, 2005
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NCI Update on Fiscal Year 2006 Its Budget Status

The following was published in the December 6, 2005 edition of the NCI Cancer Bulletin, a publication of the National Cancer Institute:

Update on FY 2006 NCI Budget Status

Congress has yet to approve appropriations legislation that provides updated funding levels for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for FY 2006, which began on October 1, 2005. As a result, NCI continues to operate within the guidelines of a Continuing Resolution (CR) passed by Congress, which keeps all HHS agencies funded at FY 2005 levels and allows NCI to operate at last year’s spending level of $4.825 billion. The current CR is set to expire on December 17, 2005.

In the interim, and as discussed at the NIH Director’s Advisory Committee meeting on December 1, noncompeting research grant awards will be made at a level of approximately 80 percent of the previously committed level. Upward adjustments to these levels will be considered after the final 2006 budget level is established. Competing renewal awards also are being made at approximately 80 percent of current levels until more definitive budget information is available. NCI leadership has advised that recipients continue to monitor their expenditures carefully during this period.

Go here to read the original article.

Posted by Dusty Weaver on December 11th, 2005
Posted in: Policy & Advocacy News | No Comments »