[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 149 (Thursday, October 30, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H9782]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     BREAST CANCER AWARENESS MONTH

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Maryland [Mrs. Morella] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. MORELLA. Mr. Speaker, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. 
Throughout this month, the Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues has 
sponsored special orders to urge our colleagues to work with us to 
increase funding for breast cancer research, treatment, and prevention, 
and to expand insurance coverage for screening and treatment.
  Last year, an estimated 182,000 women were diagnosed with breast 
cancer, and 46,000 died of the disease. One in eight women will develop 
breast cancer in their lifetimes. It continues to represent the most 
frequent major cancer in women and the second leading cause of cancer 
deaths in women.
  Despite the increases in funding for breast cancer research and 
prevention in recent years, we still have few options for prevention 
and treatment. For this reason, the gentlewoman from New York [Mrs. 
Lowey] and I have introduced H.R. 1070, The Breast Cancer Research Act 
of 1997. This bill authorizes $590 million for breast cancer research 
at the National Institutes of Health for fiscal year 1998, which is an 
increase of 35 percent. This funding level is recommended by the 
National Breast Cancer Coalition and the American Cancer Society. The 
bill has been cosponsored by a bipartisan group of Members.
  Many worthy research proposals go unfunded each year, and a greater 
Federal investment in this research will attract more top scientists to 
this effort. I urge my colleagues who are speaking tonight and I urge 
my colleagues in this House to add their names as cosponsors of this 
important bill.
  I am pleased that the House approved the fiscal year 1998 Labor, 
Health, and Human Services Education Appropriations bill, which has a 
6-percent increase in funding for the National Institutes of Health. 
The Senate has approved an even higher increase of 7.5 percent. I 
particularly thank the chairman, the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. 
Porter], for his leadership in working to bolster our Federal 
investment in biomedical research, including breast cancer research, as 
well as the members of his subcommittee, including three members of the 
Women's Caucus, the gentlewoman from New York [Mrs. Lowey], the 
gentlewoman from California [Ms. Pelosi], and the gentlewoman from 
Connecticut [Ms. DeLauro].
  The National Cancer Institute receives the highest funding increase 
of all the institutes in the bill. I hope that a final version will be 
forthcoming very soon. We must also work to better translate new 
research findings to clinical applications both through a greater focus 
on clinical research and through technology transfer.
  As chair of the Subcommittee on Technology, I have been working to 
facilitate technology transfer between Government agencies and the 
private sector. Efforts such as the ``missiles to mammograms'' project 
between the Public Health Service, the Department of Defense, the 
intelligence community, and NASA are critically important in applying 
new technologies to the fight against breast cancer.
  Earlier this year, the gentlewoman from New York [Mrs. Lowey] and I 
circulated the congressional letter urging the Appropriations National 
Security Subcommittee to provide $175 million for the peer-reviewed 
breast cancer research program at the Department of Defense, a letter 
cosigned by 170 of our colleagues, many of whom are here this evening. 
And while this final conference report fell short of that mark, I 
wanted to commend Chairman Young for his role in increasing spending 
for the program to $135 million in the final version.
  The peer-reviewed breast cancer research program has gained a well-
deserved reputation for its innovation and efficient use of resources, 
with over 90 percent of program funds going directly to research 
grants. We must continue to increase our investment in this important 
program.
  Access to mammography screening is another critical issue. The caucus 
had a major victory in August, when Congress approved the Balanced 
Budget Act, which includes annual coverage for mammography screening 
under Medicare. This has been a longtime caucus priority. And I was 
pleased to be an original cosponsor of both the Kennelly bill to 
provide annual coverage, as well as a cosponsor of the bill, H.R. 15, 
of subcommittee chairman, the gentleman from California [Mr. Thomas], 
which provided for a number of preventive benefits, including annual 
mammography screening.
  As of last fall, the breast and cervical cancer screening program had 
provided more than 1.2 million breast and cervical cancer screenings, 
education and followup services for low-income women across the 
country. While this program has been successful, we must ensure that 
efforts to reach disabled and disadvantaged and minority populations 
are expanded. As an interesting number of mastectomies and lymph node 
dissections are performed as outpatient surgery, Congress should ensure 
that women receive hospital care. Breast cancer has been a bipartisan 
priority within the caucus and for our male colleagues. I look forward 
to working with all of our Members to increase our commitment to it.

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