On Wednesday, April 26 C3 advocates will join with those of several other cancer-related organizations and visti the Washington, D.C. offices of Senators and Representatives as a part of One Voice Against Cancer (OVAC) Lobby Day. The message they will deliver to Congress is our nation must get back on the path towards eliminating cancer death and suffering by 2015.

In order to get on the path and stay on it C3 joins its OVAC colleagues in urgeing Congress to do the following:

Invest in Cancer Research: Fund the National Cancer Institute (NCI) at $5.34 billion and the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities at $200 million.

Invest in Cancer Prevention and Control Programs: Fund the cancer and prevntion and control programs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) at $427.5 million.

Address the National Nursing Shortage: Fund the nursing programs at the Health Reaources and Services Administration (HRSA) for Fiscal Year 2007 at $175 million. 

Not going to Washington? You can still help by calling your Senators and Representative on Wednesday, April 26. When they receive phone calls the same day as the visit they will see this needs their attention.

 Here is how you do it:

Go to the C3 One Minute Advocate page. Look on the right side of the page for the item "Find Elected Officials." Enter your Zip Code and click "Go."

You should be on a page called "Elected Federal Officials" where your two U.S. Senators and U.S. Representative are listed. Click on "View Info" which is located below the offical’s photo.

This page contains the contact information for the elected official. Call the phone number and ask to speak with the legslative assistant in charge of health issues. Tell the person you urge the Senator or Representative to vote for the funding levels meantioned above. Ask if the official will do so. Leave your name and address so the office can contact you with a reply.

You may not speak with the legislative assistant for a varity of reasons. If that is the case you can leave a message for that person with the informaton you would have said directly to him or her.

You can also fax or email the office with the same information should you prefer this method.

Should you not hear from the office in a couple of weeks call again and ask the status of your request.

Let us know about your efforts by emailing C3.

You can make a difference. 

Past posts have discussed the impact of the 2006 funding cuts on cancer research and prevention. The President’s Budget proposal for 2007 would increase the cuts.

Members of Congress on the respective Appropriations Committees cannot adequately fund programs in FY 07 if they are not allocated the money necessary to administer these programs. As we saw last year, the House and Senate Appropriations Committees can only spend as much money as the overall Budget Resolution allocates.

 

…The Specter-Harkin and DeLauro amendments sought to restore funding for the health andeducation functions in the respective Senate and House Budget Resolutions to the levels provided just two years ago (Fiscal Year 2005). It is important that health and education advocates support the restoration of these critical funds this year, or the trend will only get worse as additional reductions are made with each passing year

On an inflation-adjusted basis, the current NIH appropriation is smaller than it was four years ago. In constant dollars, NIH funding has declined by more than $1 billion since 2003 …

 

Scientists across the country have seen delays in processing grant applications, elimination of cost-of-living allowances for multiyear grants and cuts in continuing grants previously awarded. For young researchers, there is the real danger that they may not receive any NIH funding. Some of our best and brightest young investigators … may leave the profession. What a loss that would be for American biomedical research. 

California Assemblyman Mark Ridley-Thomas has introduced legislation (Assembly Bill 2339: Colorectal Cancer Screening and Treatment Program) which, if passed and funded, will provide infrastructure for screening programs for underserved communities.  This critical legislation will be introduced in the State Assembly later this month.

C3 supports this legislation, and thanks Assemblyman Ridley-Thomas for his efforts.

The House has adjourned for their two-week spring recess without voting on the 2007 budget resolution.  According to the April 7 Los Angeles Times, “Opposition to the budget among Republican moderates and a power struggle between a faction of conservatives and the GOP-controlled Appropriations Committee forced party leaders to either pull the measure or suffer a humiliating defeat.”

Additional information:  April 7 2006 Kaiser Family Foundation Daily Health Report

The House budget proposed significant cuts to health and education, including funding for cancer research and prevention programs.  The Senate budget restored funding to these critical programs with the Specter-Harkin Amendment. 

Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) introduced an amendment that would restore funding in the House budget; this amendment was defeated.  Representative Mike Castle (R-DE) introduced a similar amendment; however, the House adjourned without acting on the proposal.

Why does this matter?

House members are hearing from voters who are unhappy with proposals to cut programs such as cancer research and prevention.  The phone calls, emails and faxes from thousands of constituents are having an impact!

So stay tuned.  Once Congress is back from their Spring Break, we will need everyone’s help to keep up the momentum!

Representative Rosa DeLauro, a survivor of ovarian cancer, raised critical questions at the House Labor, Health and Human Services committee meeting around a critical translational research program.

During her questions, Rep. DeLauro identified the critical role of organ site-specific translational research which is occurring in NCI’s Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) programs. The SPORE programs offer a unique opportunity for “team science” that includes basic scientists with clinical researchers, and moves treatments from the laboratory to people.

C3 thanks Representative DeLauro for her leadership!