This afternoon, by a vote of 336-87, the House passed the Fiscal Year 2012 Department of Defense Appropriations bill (H.R. 2219). The bill includes funding for critical national security needs while also providing essential funding for health and quality of life programs for the men and women of the Armed Services and their families.

The final bill includes more than $223 million for cancer research, including $12.8 million for the Department of Defense’s Peer Reviewed Cancer Research Program (PRCRP) that funds colorectal cancer research.

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Walter Pincus’s latest article published by the Washington Post criticizes the health research funding in the defense appropriations bill as both earmarked funding and unneeded duplicative funding. He is wrong.
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Colorectal cancer is the most preventable and beatable cancer if detected early. That’s why you need to Find it First.

Olympus and the Colorectal Cancer Coalition are joining forces to encourage at-risk Americans to commit to being screened for colon or rectal cancer. If you are age 50 or older, have family history of colorectal cancer or have other risk factors, you should commit to be screened at FinditFirst.com.

For each screening commitment, Olympus will donate $1 (up to $25,000 total) to the Coalition. In addition to making a commitment to be screened, visitors will also be invited to join Olympus and the Coalition in urging their Members of Congress to support legislation that ensures all Americans access to life-saving colorectal cancer screening.

Make the commitment at FinditFirst.com, get screened and tell your friends and loved ones!

At 10am (eastern) this morning, the President will host a bipartisan meeting at the Blair House to discuss health reform legislation.  The meeting will be broadcast live – C‑SPAN coverage begins at 9:45am ET on C‑SPAN3, C‑SPAN.org and C‑SPAN Radio.  The entire meeting will also be streamed live on www.WhiteHouse.gov.

View a side-by-side comparison of the House-passed and Senate-passed bills here.  View the President’s health reform proposal here. Read the rest of this entry »

Ever wonder what is actually being discussed on the floor of the House and Senate? Wish you could let your Members of Congress know what you think right before they vote? Well check out TweetCongress.org. Read the rest of this entry »