By an overwhelming bipartisan vote, Congress approved a major increase in funding for cancer and medical research. The FY19 federal budget includes an additional $2 billion for research at the National Institutes of Health.
ACS CAN volunteers played a critical role in securing this funding increase. Throughout this year, volunteers have called, emailed, tweeted, dropped off petitions and met with members of Congress around the country to ensure they understood why cancer research funding is so critical to reducing suffering and death from cancer.
In addition to the cancer research, the budget also provided important funding for lifesaving cancer prevention programs managed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Programs that received funding include those for reducing tobacco use among children and adults, and providing mammograms and colonoscopies to Americans who otherwise cannot afford them.
“This $2 billion NIH increase is essential to keeping up the pace of progress in cancer prevention, detection and treatment,” said ACS CAN President Chris Hansen. “This kind of consistent, year-over-year funding increase ensures research started in one budget year can continue into the next and promising developments can move from the lab to the patient as quickly as possible.”
Thank you to all of our ACS CAN members and volunteers who supported this successful campaign.
After months of delay and hard negotiations, Congress has finally passed a funding bill! The bill includes a small increase for cancer research and prevention programs.