In his final budget proposal, President Bush once again has proposed to fund cancer research and prevention programs at levels that are wholly inadequate to wage an effective war on cancer, which killed an estimated 560,000 people in America last year.
Cancer patients, survivors and their loved ones will join the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) tonight to send a message to President Bush and Congress that federal funding for groundbreaking cancer research and lifesaving prevention and early detection programs should be a national priority.
Cancer patients and their loved ones are saddened that Congress, at the insistence of the President, has for the fifth consecutive year put forward appropriations legislation essentially flat funding cancer research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Cancer patients and their loved ones are frustrated and disappointed that Congress fell short of the two-thirds majority needed to override the president’s veto of the Labor HHS appropriations bill that includes funds to provide for much needed increases in cancer research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
President Vetoes Labor, Health And Human Services, And Education Appropriations Bill
"Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle in both the Senate and the House of Representatives affirmed their support for greater government investment in cancer research this week, passing an appropriations bill that includes increased funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- November 1, 2007 -- "The decision of Congressional negotiators to pursue funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that exceeds both the House- and Senate-passed funding levels is a major step forward in support of ground-breaking and lifesaving cancer research.
Presidential forums on cancer scheduled for today and tomorrow in Cedar Rapids, Iowa serve to elevate the importance of cancer on the national agenda and offer an opportunity for all presidential candidates to commit that they will make fighting cancer, the number one killer of Americans under age 85, a signature priority of their Administration.
Members of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services confirmed a renewed commitment to reinvigorate the war on cancer today, supporting the inclusion of a more than one-billion dollar increase for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for FY 2009.
Statement of Daniel E. Smith, President, American Cancer Society Cancer Action NetworkSM