April 2018 Federal Update

FY 18 Budget Affirms Medical Research and Cancer Prevention as Priorities

On March 23, Congress passed and the President signed a Fiscal Year 18 federal budget which includes: a $3 billion increase for medical research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH)—the largest such funding increase in 15 years; a $275 million increase for the National Cancer Institute (NCI); a $10 million increase for cancer prevention programs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and first-time funding of $15 million for the Oncology Center of Excellence at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The budget also increases funding for the CDC Office of Smoking and Health (OSH) and preserves the FDA’s full regulatory authority over tobacco products. Funding to stabilize the individual insurance markets and reduce patient premiums was not included in the House budget.

Just three short years ago, ACS CAN launched the One Degree campaign to urge Congress to increase medical research funding at the NIH by $6 billion over two years, including $1 billion for cancer research at NCI. Passage of the FY18 budget made our campaign goal a reality with an historic increase for research funding.

Senate Passes Childhood Cancer Bill

On March 22, the Senate passed the Childhood Cancer STAR Act by unanimous consent. This bipartisan bill will advance pediatric cancer research and increase transparency and expertise for pediatric cancer research at the NIH. Additionally, the legislation expands research into the long-term side effects of childhood cancer and its treatments.

From here, the STAR Act moves on to the House, where it already has 363 bipartisan cosponsors and strong support from the Energy and Commerce Committee. ACS CAN volunteers have been very active on this issue by engaging with their lawmakers through meetings, correspondence and social media.

Colorectal Cancer Advocates Hold Briefing on Capitol Hill  

On March 20, ACS CAN and Fight Colorectal Cancer held a joint briefing and lobby day on Capitol Hill to draw attention to colorectal cancer and the role public policy plays in helping reduce the second-leading cause of cancer death in the U.S. for men and women combined.

Advocates heard from a variety of speakers including several members of Congress, professional race car driver and colon cancer survivor Scott Lagasse, Jr., Dr. Mark Pochapin from the American College of Gastroenterology and Dr. Lisa Richardson from the CDC. Speakers discussed the progress made through the National Colorectal Cancer Roundtable’s “80 percent by 2018” campaign—an effort of more than 1,500 organizations to raise age-appropriate colorectal screening rates to 80 percent and to substantially reduce colorectal cancer as a major public health problem.

Additionally, Dr. Richard Wender, chief cancer control officer of the American Cancer Society, spoke about the importance of timely and affordable colorectal cancer screenings. As part of the lobby day, advocates participated in more than 200 legislative meetings and pressed lawmakers to take action on the Removing Barriers to Colorectal Cancer Screening Act. ACS CAN and other members of the Colorectal Cancer Roundtable have worked to increase cosponsors of the legislation. There are currently 267 bipartisan House cosponsors of the bill and 43 in the Senate.

Join ACS CAN

A minimum gift of $10 to ACS CAN will make you a member for one year. For ACS CAN membership benefits, go to https://www.fightcancer.org/content/acs-can-membership-benefits. For more information about ACS CAN Massachusetts, visit http://fightcancer.org/ma or contact Melissa Stacy, Grassroots Manager, at [email protected] or 508-270-4683.

The Staggering Costs of Cancer

www.fightcancer.org/policy-resources/costs-cancer

The first ACS CAN report to examine the costs of treating cancer underscores the need for policies that ensure all Americans have access to quality, affordable health coverage that includes recommended cancer prevention and treatment.

2017 Advocacy Accomplishments Report:

I am very pleased to share with you the 2017 Advocacy Accomplishments report, Cancer Advocacy: Leading a Movement to Promote and Preserve Progress, which ACS CAN released in early April of 2018.  This annual report highlights ACS CAN’s legislative, policy, grassroots, regulatory, global health advocacy, media advocacy and judicial advocacy achievements.

The report includes federal, state and local accomplishments in the following key mission priority areas: access to health coverage, cancer prevention, cancer research funding, healthy eating and active living, quality of life and tobacco control.  As in previous years, the report also features an infographic in the first few pages of the report to showcase some of our key advocacy and legislative achievements of the past year.