The Fourth of July Congressional recess has passed and the full House is currently voting on the Fiscal Year (FY) 2008 Labor, Health and Human Services and Education (LHHS) Appropriations bill. The funding levels for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) are not near what we want. Now what?

It’s time to say it even LOUDER — Research Cures Cancer!!

One of the major sources of cancer research funding comes from the federal government. The FY08 levels are not sufficient to continue the progress we’ve made.

I get as frustrated as you do. Year after year you write the same letters and give the same talking points to your Members of Congress yet the numbers do not seem to be at the appropriate levels. We can’t give up our fight!! Your job as an advocate is to keep the pressure on Congress.

Look at the recent debate over the immigration bill. Congressional offices were flooded with letter, emails, and calls from constituents mostly against the bill. What happened? The bill did not pass.

Constituents can impact their Members of Congress.

The next step is for the LHHS bill to go to conference. The conference committee is appointed by both chambers to resolve disagreements on a particular bill. The conference committee is usually composed of the senior Members of the standing committees of the House and Senate that originally considered the legislation. This committee issues a conference report which must then be approved by both House and Senate and signed by the President.

We still have time!! Keep up the good work.

Earlier today, the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee marked up their Appropriations bill. The bill includes the largest increase for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in recent memory and is significantly larger than the House bill.

Senator Kohl, Chairman of the Subcommittee, announced $186 million in additional funding for the FDA, which is $120 million above the President’s request.

C3: Colorectal Cancer Coalition would like to thank Chairman Kohl and the other Members of the Subcommittee for the substantial increase in funds to FDA. This increase will result in enhanced drug safety for all colorectal cancer patients.

Yesterday the House of Representatives’ Agriculture Appropriations
Subcommittee marked up its Fiscal Year 2008 Appropriations bill. The appropriations bill allocates funds to the Food and Drug Administration. Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) stated that she recognized there is a resource problem at the FDA and made a commitment to multi-year funding.

The FDA is funded at $1.7 billion, $121.5 million (7.7%) above Fiscal Year 2007 and $55 million (3.4%) above the President’s budget request.

Though not as high as hoped for, this is the best FDA budget in recent years.

Your Representative and Senators will be working in their district offices during the upcoming August Congressional Recess (August 6-31) and we need you to reach out to them while they’re home. House and Senate leaders have requested far less than the amount needed to advance crucial cancer research.

WE NEED YOU!! Tell Congress to keep their promise and properly fund cancer research.

Here are some ideas on how to get the message out about proposed funding levels for cancer research to your Representative and Senators while they are home in the district.

1. Option 1: CALL your Representatives and Senators at their district office today and tell them that the current funding level for the NIH, which includes the NCI, won’t work and needs to be fixed. Click here for their phone numbers

2. Option 2: Attend a public meeting or event where your Representative and Senators may be at.

3. Option 3: Drop by their district office. You may not be able to sit down with your Member of Congress, but you should be able to at least speak with a staff member.

4. Option 4: If time is short, send an E-MAIL to your Representative and Senators today.

Materials:

Click here for talking points developed by C3: Colorectal Cancer Coalition.

SPEAK OUT TODAY!!

For more information please contact Joe Arite, Policy and Grassroots Manager at Joe.Arite@FightColorectalCancer.org

Don’t forget to visit C3: Colorectal Cancer Coalition’s Advocacy Blog

On Thursday, June 21, 2007, The Senate Appropriations Committee approved the FY08 Legislation on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Related Agencies. This bill sets the funding levels for the National Institutes of Health (NHI). The Senate increased funding by $1 billion over the FY07 budget and by $1.2 billion over the President’s request. The bill now makes it way to the Senate Floor.

Though the funding levels are the highest we have seen in years, and MUCH higher than the levels proposed by the House of Representatives and The President, it is not the 6.7% increase we hoped for.

I urge you to contact your Senators and let them know that while we are making great progress in the war against cancer, over 52,000 people will die from colorectal cancer in 2007 alone. We must provide for the resources needed to win this war!

Click here to find your Senators’ contact information

Click here to read the Committee’s Press Release on the FY08 LHHS Legislation

Click here to read the Senate FY08 LHHS Funding Summary