Supporting the goal of eliminating suffering and death due to cancer by the year 2015.

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 210) supporting the goal of eliminating suffering and death due to cancer by the year 2015, as amended.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H. Con. Res. 210.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I am pleased to rise today in support of House Concurrent Resolution 210, a resolution supporting the goal of eliminating suffering and death due to cancer by the year 2015.

To many people, the goal of eliminating suffering and death due to cancer in under a decade may seem impossible or at least highly unlikely. But when we take a step back and look at the amazing things we have accomplished in the last three decades, I believe that with the hard work and concentrated effort of our Nation, this goal is realistic and achievable.

Thirty years ago, just hearing the word ``cancer'' sent chills down people's spines. Cancer of any kind was seen as a virtual death sentence. And unfortunately, today cancer is still a death sentence for far too many people from all ages and all walks of life.

But for an increasing number of Americans, cancer is no longer a death sentence as it once was. Rather, it is becoming a preventable, controllable, beatable disease. Today medical science is accomplishing things that were undreamed of 30 years ago. For the first time, we are seeing a decline in the numbers of lives claimed by cancer each year. People are living longer both with the disease and after the disease. Screening is better and more widespread than ever. Treatments are better and safer, and outcomes continue to improve. Based on the strides that we have made, I can honestly say I think we are winning the war on cancer.

I can also say with confidence that the future of cancer research looks bright. With the mapping of the human genome, we will be able to identify each person's cancer-related genes. Using this information, we can design tailored prevention and treatment options for each individual patient. The availability of these advanced techniques is not a question of if, but when.

While the goal of ending suffering and death from cancer by the year 2015 requires us to set our eyes on the future, we must also focus on what can be done today. The resolution before us encourages Congress to examine how the resources of this great Nation can best be harnessed to reach the ultimate goal to finding a cure. Whether through government- sponsored research, partnerships with the private sector, investors, or philanthropic organizations, we must pursue this enemy of cancer on all fronts.

We must set priorities. We must demand more for our money. We must foster the next generation of cancer scientists and researchers and encourage more young people to enter this high calling. We must ensure that the fruits of research make their way into clinical practice and into public health efforts to reduce the burden of cancer. We must promote policies that encourage proper intellectual property management, the key to scientific innovation. We must make sure that people who qualify have access to clinical trials.

But finally and most importantly, we must not forget the human face of cancer. Outside of this Chamber, thousands of people are gathering on the National Mall as part the American Cancer Society's Celebration on the Hill. People whose lives have been touched by cancer from every State and every congressional district across the United States have come to celebrate life, to remember those that were

lost, and to have their voices heard. I applaud their courage, faith and perseverance, and I look forward to meeting with many of them during the coming hours and days.

With their help and shining example, along with the continued attention of this great Nation, we can meet the challenge set forth in the resolution, to end suffering and death from cancer by the year 2015.

In closing, I would like to commend the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Shaw) for introducing this important resolution. I urge my colleagues to support it.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the author of the resolution, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Shaw).

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

It is apparent that there is more than one cancer that we are fighting around here, and that is the cancer of political rhetoric that would take a resolution designed to say that we have a goal of eliminating cancer within the next 10 years and try to change it into one of political talk.

I would invite the gentleman from California to accompany me and Mr. Pallone tomorrow to the Energy and Commerce Committee, where we will be voting to once again reauthorize and to change and expand the concept of the National Institutes of Health of which the Cancer Institute is one.

I would remind him that the National Institutes of Health funding has been doubled during the Republican control of this Congress, something that has not happened prior to that time.

Everyone knows that this is a resolution on its face that is designed to say let us all get behind this issue and put aside political rhetoric and try to have an achievable goal. It is regrettable, and I would apologize to those who are here because they are concerned about the issue of doing something about it, that even a resolution of encouragement and establishing a goal has to take on political overtones.

Tomorrow, the Energy and Commerce Committee will reauthorize and change some of the provisions that have hampered research within the National Institutes of Health and in that will be the Institute for Cancer Research, and I think that is a laudable goal, one that we will be bringing to the floor in the not-too-distant future.

I urge the adoption of the resolution.

Madam Speaker, I am pleased that we are here today uniting behind this bill and this goal, but we can and we must do much more than pay lip service to meeting the 2015 deadline. Let's take this opportunity to come together and eradicate cancer by fully funding NCI, by supporting local centers, and by reauthorizing and funding the very programs that reach the men, women, and children who need them most and can least afford them.

Madam Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I would like to address my remarks to the thousands of cancer advocates in Washington this week and thank them for their service and dedication. They have come to Washington to tell Congress to make concrete commitments to fight cancer, but instead of action, they get this useless resolution.

Cancer patients, survivors and advocates are getting nothing but empty words. It is all hat and no cattle. It is typical of Republicans' approach to serious problems in this country. I am surprised that they didn't try and land on an aircraft carrier and declare that cancer was conquered. I am offended that the Republican do-nothing Congress is bringing forth a do-nothing resolution as its response to fighting cancer.

No cancer advocate in our country should be appeased by this vote. The resolution is empty rhetoric and not action. And action is what is needed for cancer, for AIDS, for Parkinson's disease, and so many other diseases that impact our citizens and people around the world.

The sponsor of this resolution is offering a few platitudes that agree with the laudable goal of eliminating suffering and death due to cancer by the year 2015. I don't know anybody that would not subscribe to that. Maybe move it up to the year 2010, but I can't think of a human being that would object to that.

But how does this resolution achieve that goal? Does it increase the NIH funding for cancer research? No. Do the Republicans oppose that? Yes.

Does it boost support for the Department of Defense breast cancer research program? Not one penny.

Does it extend the expiring tax credit for research and development of life-saving cancer treatments? No. That, by the way, is something that a few Republicans support, but they can't seem to get it to the floor to get a vote. And they control this place. If they can't get it to the floor, who can?

Does it provide for stem cell research as advocated by the scientific community? No. They are pandering to a bunch of religious radicals and avoiding dealing with scientific research

that is needed to cure these diseases. They put their head in the sand and pander to political contributions.

The sponsor of this resolution, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Shaw), voted to cut money for the Centers for Disease Control and early detection and prevention of cancer. This resolution doesn't restore that.

Does it expand health coverage to the nearly 47 million Americans who lack health insurance, can't even find out if they have cancer and, therefore, fail to get the preventive care available to them? No, it does not add insurance to one of the 47 million people without health insurance in this country, who, therefore, do not get medical care. It is the Republican way of all talk and no action.

This resolution is an affront to those who have traveled here from across our Nation to advocate better cancer care. Not only does this resolution fail to do anything to help eliminate cancer, but this Congress is taking us in the wrong direction. Led by the Republicans, President Bush and this Congress have aggressively cut funding for NIH. This year, adjusted for inflation, they have cut $213 million. Over the last 4 years, they have reduced the agency's purchasing power by more than 12 percent.

The cuts aren't just to research. Since President Bush and the Republican leadership have taken office, nearly 7 million people have lost their health insurance, and we all know that is the only way to get proper care. The President used the only veto of his administration to keep in place restrictions on life-saving stem cell research, and the Republican leadership in this Congress didn't have the courage to override that.

I guess I could go on, but I think I have made my point. I wholeheartedly agree we must do much more to eradicate cancer and other dreaded diseases, but I, like the American public, want action, not words. That is why I suspect the American public will join with us in voting for a change in direction in this Congress. We need a new direction. We need people who will put their money where their mouth is and will vote to take action that is so close within our grasp to help these people and not just sit up and preen and say, My goodness, we think cancer is bad. Let's do something about it.

I urge cancer advocates across the country to recognize this resolution for what it is: a pathetic attempt to play lip service to an issue that requires resources, not rhetoric.

You could replace the inheritance tax. That will give you enough money to fund many of these programs, instead of standing up, sticking your thumb in the pie, and saying, ``What a good boy am I.''

Let's get busy. Let's change the direction of this Congress. Let's change the leadership and get action toward finding a cure for cancer, not empty rhetoric.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, I support the goal of ending suffering and death by cancer by the year 2015 as set forth in this resolution. It is certainly a commendable goal; and, of course, I support the resolution.

But what is Congress doing to set up programs and strategic plans to make that goal a reality? For example, the National Cancer Institute has focused the fight against cancer on eight strategic objectives, including: First, understanding the causes and mechanisms of cancer; second, accelerating the progress in cancer prevention; third, improving early detection and diagnosis; fourth, developing effective and efficient treatment; fifth, understanding the factors that influence cancer outcomes; sixth, improving the quality of cancer care; seventh, improving the quality of life for cancer patients, survivors and their families; and, eighth, overcoming cancer health disparities.

That is the National Cancer Institute. That is what they are focusing on. Congress, on the other hand, is doing little to help this fight. A resolution I would say is mere talk and does not actually take action to fight cancer.

I think Congress has choices right now, and instead of passing this resolution, we should, for example, increase funding for NIH's cancer research, fund real stem cell research supported by the scientific community, fund the Department of Defense's breast cancer research program, and probably most important, expand health coverage to the 46 million Americans that do not have it today. Three times as many people have lost health insurance as jobs since the Bush administration has come to power. Without health coverage, early detection and treatment are almost impossible.

There are many cancers that can be cured today, such as cervical, breast and prostate cancer, but without health insurance, access to early detection or follow-up treatment it is almost impossible for the many hard-working people across this country.

This year alone, Madam Speaker, cancer will claim the lives of 570,000 Americans, that is 1,500 per day, almost half of those that gave their lives on September 11. In addition, 1.3 million new cases of cancer were diagnosed in 2005 alone.

Again, the goal of this resolution is good. I support it, but we should be on the floor today supporting legislative action, not a resolution to help everyone suffering from or touched by cancer. As much as I support this resolution, I think that a lot more needs to be done that is not being addressed today by this Republican majority.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from California (Mr. Stark).

(Mr. STARK asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I would just say that, again, while the Democrats support this resolution, we are very concerned over the fact that it is essentially commemorative in nature and it does not do anything in terms of funding or addressing any of the problems that have been outlined by the National Cancer Institute in order to move forward and eliminate cancer by the year 2015. So while we think it is a good resolution and we do support it, we need to point out that the Republican majority is essentially doing nothing to implement a strategy that would actually lead us to the eradication of cancer.

Madam Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Con. Res. 210, a resolution to support the National Cancer Institute, NCI, in its goal of eliminating death and suffering due to cancer by 2015. We can and we must make the 2015 goal a priority, but we cannot do that if we continue to cut and underfund the very researchers working to make it a reality.

Thanks to research, great progress has been made against cancer in the last three decades. In 1976, half of all cancer patients survived more than 5 years after diagnosis. Today, closer to two-thirds or 63 percent of adults and 85 percent of children are alive 5 years after they learn they have cancer. Let's build on that progress.

Since cancer is more common among older Americans and the American population is aging, by the year 2050 the number of new cancer cases in America could more than double, with estimates as high as 2.46 million new cases annually. Cancers cost the United States an estimated $210 billion in 2005. This amount included $74 billion in direct medical costs and nearly $136 billion in lost productivity. And advances in biomedical research benefit not only cancer treatment, but provide information on molecular and genetic processes that will aid in a better understanding in the underlying causes of virtually all diseases.

NCI, part of the National Institutes of Health, is the Federal Government's principal agency for cancer research and training. The NCI has a goal of eliminating all suffering and death due to cancer by the year 2015. I believe that eliminating suffering and death due to cancer by the year 2015 should be America's goal.

Madam Speaker, when the House leadership finally schedules a vote on the Labor, Health, and Human Services Appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2007, LHHS, I intend to sponsor an amendment that fully funds NCI. The President's proposed 2007 Budget cuts funding to NCI by over $39.7 million and the LHHS bill as written currently includes the same underfunding. The Higgins Amendment to LHHS will restore $240 million in funding to NCI, bringing its total to $5,033,000,000.

Additionally, I will support projects that advance the mission of the Roswell Park Cancer Institute and other local cancer research, treatment, and advocacy projects. Western New York is home to Roswell Park Cancer Institute, a premier cancer research and treatment facility and one of Western New York's top 20 employers. The research done at Roswell has the potential to blow the research field open--and the care provided there to patients cannot be matched.

Finally, I intend to support expanding programs that detect cancer early and help Americans get treatment. These programs significantly reduce the cost to our nation's healthcare system by treating people early. There are proven programs like the Breast and Cervical Early Detection Program, which help underserved communities get diagnosed and treated early. Because of underfunding these programs cannot reach all the people who need them.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to urge passage of this important bipartisan resolution that I introduced with my fellow cancer survivors and advocates Collin Peterson, Deborah Pryce, Lois Capps, Sue Myrick and Steve Israel, all cochairs of the 2015 Cancer Caucus.

This resolution expresses Congress' support for the National Cancer Institute's goal of eliminating the suffering and death due to cancer by the year 2015.

Cancer claims the lives of more than 570,000 Americans each year. That is right, over half a million, but we have yet to declare a full- scale war on cancer. The passage of this resolution today puts us on record as going on the right track. Cancer affects everyone. It is not a Republican issue or a Democrat issue, it is an issue for our entire country, and it is an issue that faces the world.

In 1961, President Kennedy established the lofty goal of putting a man on the moon in 10 years. This historic goal was achieved in just 8 years. Just as this goal was established and achieved, so can the goal of 2015.

We are very close to achieving the goal of ending cancer death and suffering. But when you are in a race and you see the finish line, you don't jog, you sprint. Scientists at the National Cancer Institute and other private and public research facilities across the country and world are conducting vital research each and every day that will enable cancer sufferers to be cancer survivors.

We must show our solidarity on these efforts by fully supporting the 2015 goal and providing the Federal resources necessary that to achieve it. Over the last 5 years, we have doubled the research dollars for cancer, but yet that is not enough. I see no better legacy for future generations than ending cancer suffering and cancer death.

Over 10,000 cancer survivors and advocates from across the country are converging on the Capitol this week for the American Cancer Society's Celebration on the Hill. These heroes will be visiting every one of our offices this week. When you visit with them, and I hope you will visit with them and not push them off to staff, I hope you pledge your strongest support on the war against cancer.

We must work together to provide Federal funding needed for research efforts and pass legislation to support early diagnosis and treatment. Ending the suffering and death due to cancer will be achieved with momentous global proportions, the most important public health achievement of all time. I urge passage of this important resolution.

Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.