[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3237 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

112th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3237

To provide for the establishment of a Commission to Accelerate the End 
                           of Breast Cancer.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 24, 2012

   Mr. Whitehouse (for himself, Ms. Collins, Mr. Brown of Ohio, Ms. 
  Murkowski, Mrs. Shaheen, Mr. Heller, Mr. Warner, and Mr. Grassley) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
          Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To provide for the establishment of a Commission to Accelerate the End 
                           of Breast Cancer.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.

    (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Accelerating the 
End of Breast Cancer Act of 2012''.
    (b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents of this Act is as 
follows:

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Findings.
Sec. 3. Establishment.
Sec. 4. Mission; duties.
Sec. 5. Membership.
Sec. 6. Chairperson; program managers.
Sec. 7. Coordination and nonduplication.
Sec. 8. Evaluation of the Commission.
Sec. 9. Authorization of funding.
Sec. 10. Termination.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) In the United States, the chance of a woman developing 
        breast cancer during her lifetime has increased from 1 in 11 in 
        1975 to 1 in 8 today.
            (2) Worldwide, breast cancer is the most frequently 
        diagnosed cancer in women with 1,300,000 cases each year. 
        Breast cancer is also the leading cause of cancer death in 
        women, with more than 500,000 women dying from the disease 
        worldwide in 2010.
            (3) More than 90 percent of deaths from breast cancer are 
        caused by metastasis, which occurs when cancerous cells spread 
        to other organs or bone.
            (4) The National Cancer Institute estimated that breast 
        cancer care in the United States cost $16,500,000,000 in 2009, 
        and cost the nation $12,100,000,000 in lost productivity.
            (5) Over the past 40 years, very little has improved the 
        incidence, morbidity, and mortality rates of breast cancer.

SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT.

    There shall be established a commission to be known as the 
Commission to Accelerate the End of Breast Cancer (in this Act referred 
to as the ``Commission'').

SEC. 4. MISSION; DUTIES.

    (a) Mission.--The mission of the Commission shall be to help end 
breast cancer by January 1, 2020.
    (b) Duties.--The Commission shall--
            (1) identify opportunities and ideas within the public and 
        private sectors, basic and applied sciences, and epidemiology 
        that can be turned into real world strategies to prevent breast 
        cancer and breast cancer metastasis;
            (2) recommend projects to leverage such opportunities and 
        ideas in the areas of--
                    (A) the primary prevention of breast cancer; and
                    (B) the causes and prevention of breast cancer 
                metastasis;
            (3) promote ideas that are intellectually compelling and 
        innovative;
            (4) accelerate potentially transformational scientific 
        advances that are--
                    (A) not being prioritized within the Federal 
                Government but which can help to achieve the mission 
                described in subsection (a); and
                    (B) unlikely to be achieved by the private sector 
                due to technical and financial uncertainty;
            (5) identify promising but underdeveloped areas of research 
        that would benefit from a cluster of support from government, 
        industry, and academia to rapidly advance knowledge into 
        practice; and
            (6) create opportunities for transdisciplinary, cross-
        cutting collaborations.
    (c) Strategic Vision.--Not later than 6 months after the 
appointment of the initial members of the Commission, the Commission 
shall submit to the President and to the relevant authorizing and 
appropriations committees of Congress, a description of the 
Commission's strategic vision for its role in achieving the mission 
described in subsection (a) by January 1, 2020.
    (d) Annual Report.--Not later than January 15, 2013, and annually 
thereafter, the Commission shall submit an annual report to the 
President, Congress, and the public describing--
            (1) the Commission's activities under this section, 
        including its progress in achieving the mission described in 
        subsection (a); and
            (2) the amount of funding expended by the Commission in the 
        preceding year and the activities carried out with such funds.

SEC. 5. MEMBERSHIP.

    (a) Number; Appointment.--The Commission shall be composed of not 
more than 10 members who shall be appointed by the President, by and 
with the advice and consent of the Senate.
    (b) Composition.--
            (1) In general.--Each member of the Commission shall be 
        appointed to represent one of the following 3 categories:
                    (A) Representatives of varied disciplines within 
                the biomedical research field.
                    (B) Representatives of varied disciplines outside 
                of the biomedical research field.
                    (C) Educated patient advocates, including 
                individuals who--
                            (i) represent a patient-led, patient-
                        centered organization with a patient 
                        constituency;
                            (ii) have been personally affected by 
                        breast cancer; and
                            (iii) are trained, knowledgeable, and 
                        prepared to participate in the decision-making 
                        process of science and medicine.
            (2) Representation of membership categories.--Of the 
        members of the Commission--
                    (A) at least 1, but not more than 3, shall be 
                appointed to represent the category described in 
                paragraph (1)(A);
                    (B) at least 1, but not more than 3, shall be 
                appointed to represent the category described in 
                paragraph (1)(B); and
                    (C) at least 2, but not more than 4, shall be 
                appointed to represent the category described in 
                paragraph (1)(C).
    (c) Initial Members.--The initial members of the Commission shall 
be appointed not later than 60 days after the date of the enactment of 
this Act.
    (d) Terms.--
            (1) In general.--Each member of the Commission shall be 
        appointed for a term of 3 years and may be reappointed.
            (2) Vacancies.--Any member of the Commission appointed to 
        fill a vacancy occurring before the expiration of the term for 
        which the member's predecessor was appointed shall be appointed 
        only for the remainder of that term. A member may serve after 
        the expiration of that member's term until a successor has 
        taken office. A vacancy in the Commission shall be filled in 
        the manner in which the original appointment was made.
    (e) Quorum.--Three members of the Commission shall constitute a 
quorum.

SEC. 6. CHAIRPERSON; PROGRAM MANAGERS.

    (a) Chairperson.--
            (1) Designation.--Of the members of the Commission 
        appointed under section 5(a), the President shall at the time 
        of the appointment, designate one such member who meets the 
        qualification requirement of paragraph (2) to serve as the 
        Chairperson of the Commission.
            (2) Qualifications.--To be selected as Chairperson under 
        paragraph (1), a member shall be an individual who, by reason 
        of professional background and experience, is especially 
        qualified to manage areas of study pertaining to ending breast 
        cancer by January 1, 2020.
            (3) Responsibilities.--The responsibilities of the 
        Chairperson shall include--
                    (A) approving areas of study of the Commission 
                based on innovation, impact, and scientific and 
                technical merit;
                    (B) developing criteria (including milestones) for 
                assessing, and overseeing the assessment of, the 
                success of areas of study of the Commission;
                    (C) terminating areas of study of the Commission 
                that are not achieving the mission described in section 
                4(a); and
                    (D) appointing staff as necessary to aid in 
                carrying out the mission described in section 4(a).
    (b) Program Managers.--
            (1) In general.--The Chairperson of the Commission may 
        designate members of the Commission who may act as program 
        managers to oversee one or more areas of study of the 
        Commission.
            (2) Responsibilities.--A member designated under paragraph 
        (1) shall, with respect to one or more areas of study, be 
        responsible for--
                    (A) recommending novel proposals, projects, and 
                collaborations based on scientific and technical merit 
                to achieve the mission described in section 4(a) with a 
                focus on strategies for the primary prevention of 
                breast cancer, and methods to prevent breast cancer 
                metastasis;
                    (B) identifying innovative ideas and opportunities 
                to achieve the mission described in section 4(a), 
                including such ideas and opportunities not being 
                prioritized for breast cancer relevance within Federal 
                agencies or programs or the private sector;
                    (C) working with other relevant Federal agencies to 
                identify areas of concurrent interests in order to 
                maximize Federal investment and stimulate collaborative 
                projects;
                    (D) creating opportunities for transdisciplinary, 
                cross-cutting collaborations;
                    (E) using the authorized funds of the Commission, 
                subject to the approval of the Chairperson--
                            (i) to convene workshops and confer with 
                        experts in both the public and private sector;
                            (ii) to build collaborations for 
                        identifying areas of study;
                            (iii) to identify all areas where resources 
                        could be leveraged; and
                            (iv) to carry out other functions of the 
                        Commission that are approved by the Chairperson 
                        and necessary to carry out the mission 
                        described in section 4(a); and
                    (F) to monitor the progress of areas of study and 
                recommend restructure or termination.

SEC. 7. COORDINATION AND NONDUPLICATION.

    To the maximum extent practicable, the Commission shall ensure that 
the activities of the Commission are coordinated with, and do not 
duplicate the efforts of, programs and laboratories of other government 
agencies.

SEC. 8. EVALUATION OF THE COMMISSION.

    (a) In General.--The President shall enter into an agreement with 
the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences under 
which the Institute, after the Commission has been in operation for 3 
years, shall complete an evaluation of how well the Commission is 
making progress towards achieving the mission described in section 
4(a).
    (b) Inclusions.--The evaluation under subsection (a) shall 
include--
            (1) a recommendation on whether the Commission should be 
        continued or terminated; and
            (2) a description of lessons learned from operation of the 
        Commission.
    (c) Availability.--On completion of the evaluation under subsection 
(a), the Commission shall make the evaluation available to the Congress 
and the public.

SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF FUNDING.

    (a) Fund.--There is established in the Treasury of the United 
States a fund, to be known as the ``Accelerating the End of Breast 
Cancer Fund'', which shall be administered by the Chairperson, as 
defined in section 6(a), for the purpose of carrying out this section.
    (b) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be 
appropriated to the Chairperson for deposit in the Fund, without fiscal 
year limitation--
            (1) $8,000,000 for fiscal year 2012;
            (2) $12,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2013 and 2014; and
            (3) such sums as may be necessary for each fiscal year 
        thereafter until the Commission is terminated.
    (c) Limitation.--None of the amounts appropriated for a fiscal year 
under subsection (b) shall be used for the operation or construction of 
any laboratories or pilot plants.

SEC. 10. TERMINATION.

    The Commission shall terminate on June 1, 2020.
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