Washington, D.C., —Today the House Labor Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee on Health will vote on a FY 2020 spending bill that includes a $2 billion funding increase for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and a $300 million funding boost for the National Cancer Institute (NCI), including an additional $50 million specifically for childhood cancer research. The bill also increases funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and allocates an additional $40 million for the CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health (OSH), which provides funding for programs that help prevent youth from starting to use tobacco and helps adult tobacco users to quit.
A statement from Lisa Lacasse, president of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) follows:
“ACS CAN greatly appreciates Subcommittee Chairwoman Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) and Ranking Member Tom Cole’s (R-Okla.) ongoing commitment to medical research funding and applauds their inclusion of a $2 billion increase for the NIH and $300 million increase for NCI in the 2020 budget bill. Significant and consistent increases in medical research funding are essential to developing new, more effective ways to detect, diagnose and treat cancer—a disease that will claim the lives of more than 600,000 Americans this year.
“ACS CAN also commends the committee’s proposed funding increase for the CDC, especially the additional $40 million for the CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health (OSH). Tobacco use remains the number one preventable cause of cancer in our country and OSH serves a critical role in helping prevent kids from starting tobacco use and helping adults to quit.
“The proposed FY 2020 budget being voted on today would enable the country to continue building on past research investments and propel positive medical developments even further.
“On behalf of the more than 1.7 million Americans who are expected to be diagnosed with cancer this year, ACS CAN strongly urges the committee to approve these proposed increases for NIH, NCI and CDC in its final FY 2020.”
