[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 29 (Tuesday, March 17, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H1179-H1181]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
AUTHORIZING USE OF CAPITOL GROUNDS FOR BREAST CANCER SURVIVORS EVENT
Mr. KIM. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the
concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 238) authorizing the use of the
Capitol Grounds for a breast cancer survivors event sponsored by the
National Race for the Cure, as amended.
The Clerk read as follows:
H. Con. Res. 238
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate
concurring),
SECTION 1. AUTHORIZATION OF BREAST CANCER SURVIVORS EVENT ON
CAPITOL GROUNDS.
The National Race for the Cure (referred to in this
resolution as the ``Race'') may sponsor a public event on the
Capitol Grounds on April 1, 1998, or on such other date as
the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President
pro tempore of the Senate may jointly designate.
SEC. 2. CONDITIONS.
(a) In General.--The event to be carried out under this
resolution shall be--
(1) free of admission charge to the public; and
(2) arranged not to interfere with the needs of Congress
and under conditions to be prescribed by the Architect of the
Capitol and the Capitol Police Board.
(b) Responsibility.--The Race shall assume full
responsibility for all expenses and liabilities incident to
all activities associated with the event.
SEC. 3. STRUCTURES AND EQUIPMENT.
For the purposes of this resolution, the Race may erect
upon the Capitol Grounds, subject to the approval of the
Architect of the Capitol, such stage, sound amplification
devices, commemorative pink ribbon, and other related
structures and equipment as may be required for the event to
be carried out under this resolution.
SEC. 4. ADDITIONAL ARRANGEMENTS.
The Architect of the Capitol and the Capitol Police Board
may make any such additional arrangements that may be
required to carry out the event under this resolution.
SEC. 5. APPLICABILITY OF PROHIBITIONS.
Nothing in this resolution may be construed to waive the
applicability of the prohibitions established by section 4 of
the Act of July 31, 1946 (Chapter 707; 60 Stat. 718),
concerning sales, displays, and solicitations on the Capitol
Grounds.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
California (Mr. Kim) and the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar)
each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California (Mr. Kim).
Mr. KIM. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, House Concurrent Resolution 238, as amended, authorizes
the use of the Capitol Grounds by the National Race for the Cure to
host an event on the morning of Wednesday, April 1, 1998. This event is
a tribute to breast cancer survivors and will be free of charge and
open to the public. Furthermore, it will not interfere with the needs
of Congress.
This Survivors Day event is intended to raise the awareness of breast
cancer and emphasize the importance of education and early detection on
a national level. The sponsor will assume full responsibility for all
expenses and liabilities relating to the event.
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In addition, all of the arrangements will be overseen by the
Architect of the Capitol and the Capitol Police Board.
The sponsor intends to erect a stage and a 50- to 75-foot pink
ribbon, the commemorative symbol of breast cancer awareness, and sound
amplification equipment.
In addition, in order to satisfy the concerns regarding fund-raising
activities, the amendment clarifies that this event will not involve
any fund-raising activities, as this is a prohibited use of the Capitol
grounds pursuant to title 40, section 193 of the United States Code.
Mr. Speaker, breast cancer strikes 1 out of 8 American women and is
the leading cause of death for women between the ages of 35 and 54.
Early detection is known to provide the best chances of survival from
this disease. This event will lend support to all survivors of breast
cancer and demonstrate our commitment to the complete eradication of
the disease.
In conclusion, I wish to congratulate the gentleman from New York
(Mr. Solomon), the Chairman of the Committee on Rules who sponsored
this resolution, and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Bentsen), whose wife
Tamra is a private organizer of this event.
I support this resolution and urge my colleagues to support it.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr.
Solomon).
Mr. SOLOMON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this
time. They are waiting upstairs for a quorum, and I have to get back up
there.
Mr. Speaker, on behalf of Senator Connie Mack, the gentleman from
Texas (Mr. Bentsen) and myself, I introduced House Concurrent
Resolution 238. I want to say what an honor and privilege it has been
to work with the distinguished Senator from Florida, Connie Mack, and
his wife Priscilla on this very, very important initiative.
I want to thank the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Public Buildings
and Economic Development, the gentleman from California (Mr. Kim), and
of course the ranking member, the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr.
Oberstar), my good friend, as well for the opportunity to speak on this
issue here this morning.
Mr. Speaker, this a humble resolution. It simply authorizes the use
of the Capitol grounds for an event on April 1st which will honor
breast cancer survivors sponsored by the nationally recognized Race for
the Cure.
Mr. Speaker, the statistics are staggering. Breast cancer strikes 1
in 8 women, as my good friend, the gentleman from California (Mr. Kim)
has said, and is the leading cause of death
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for women between the ages of 20 and 54. Today, there are 2.6 million
women living with breast cancer in the United States. No woman is
immune from the disease, and sadly, over 180,000 new cases will be
diagnosed this year alone. In my home State of New York, nearly 14,000
women will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year.
Mr. Speaker, early detection is the key to winning the battle against
breast cancer. We now know that regular mammography screenings with
prompt treatment could result in one-third fewer deaths. The bad news
is that only one-third of women follow the recommended screening
guidelines.
That is why we are here today, to authorize the use of the Capitol
grounds to highlight the importance of education and early detection on
a national level by celebrating survivors of breast cancer and
enhancing public awareness of this devastating disease.
Mr. Speaker, life is an incredible gift, and having survived a battle
against cancer myself on 2 occasions in the past 4 years, I just want
to urge everyone to come over here and pay tribute to these women and
pass this bill today.
Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I am obviously very strong in support of the pending resolution, and
I thank the Chair of the subcommittee for moving this legislation
through so expeditiously, and the Chairman of the Committee on Rules
for his very thoughtful words in support of an issue that is very
special to me.
Mr. Speaker, I bring a personal perspective as well as a legislative
perspective to this issue. The nationally established Race for the Cure
has done an enormous amount of good in education and in publicizing an
issue nationally that until the early 1980s was one that sort of stood
in the closet. Until that time, it was difficult for most people to say
in a public setting the word breast, and then to associate it with
cancer. But along about the early 1980s, this disease came to be of
epidemic proportions.
The Race for the Cure has brought this issue home to people of all
walks of life all across the country, educating women to the need for
self-examination, regular visits with a physician, regular
mammographies for women of certain age, for women with a family history
of breast cancer, for women with a family history of breast cancer and
whose first child was born after the age of 30. And as women became
better informed, as the terms entered our national lexicon, there have
been enormous benefits. The Race for the Cure has raised dollars for
cancer research, but more importantly, it has raised consciousness and
awareness and the information level and the understanding level.
When my wife Jo detected the lump in her breast and it was confirmed
as malignant, and she had a mastectomy, followed by chemotherapy. The
issue crashed in upon the Oberstar family. I was serving on the
Committee on the Budget at the time, and I, for the first time, must
shamefully admit, took a look at the number for breast cancer research.
It was $35 million in 1983. It is now well over $500 million. I am
pleased to say that I have had some role in moving it along in that
direction, but there were lots of others who participated and made it
happen.
In the 8 years that Jo struggled with breast cancer, the ups and
downs, the pain of treatment, the pain that our children felt as they
lost the participation of their mother to an ever-increasing level of
inability to function fully as a human being, but still with a great
heart, with enormous love and great support for the children, to the
degree that she could, in that period of 8 years, 300,000 women died of
breast cancer.
Annually, more women died in the 1980s of breast cancer than men and
women died in the Vietnam War over 10 years. In the decade since the
second round of onset of spread and metastasis of that disease in her
body, 420,000 women have died of breast cancer.
Research has been effective in opening new avenues of treatment, much
earlier detection, much better treatment and care of breast cancer
victims, but we are still a long way, we are not even halfway home; we
are a long way from even seeing avenues to a cure, let alone truly
effective treatments.
The work that we do and activities like Race for the Cure does do
something of extreme importance, and that is to bring home to women the
importance of early detection, regular checkups. The earlier one
detects the disease, the better chance one has of surviving.
Our three daughters understand this all very well. Their mother had
breast cancer; their grandmother had breast cancer. They are at some
level of risk. But they have more at their disposal than their mother
had. They know how early this disease can strike. They know that they
need regular checkups. They know how quickly to act, and we want that
kind of information brought home to women all across America. And the
Race for the Cure is a way to do that.
No longer should generations of mothers, cornerstone of humanity,
worry, wonder, live in fear, sometimes terrifying fear, that they, too,
may become victims.
I applaud those who have organized in State after State across the
country the Race for the Cure with the contribution they are making to
future generations of women who can live more hopefully than did women
of my wife's generation. The race may not be for a cure, but it has
that objective in mind, and we must keep hope alive and keep research
going and keep early detection and treatment nurtured by the benefits
of this initiative.
Mr. KIM. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to
the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton).
Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding to me.
The gentleman has spoken movingly of his own personal experience, one
that I remember when it occurred. In doing so, I think he speaks for
many Members of this House, who in one fashion or another have had
family members to experience this disease. And in this respect, Mr.
Speaker, I think that the Members of this House are truly
representative of the American people, because this frightening disease
is one that knows no group of any kind and is spread throughout the
society. So it makes great sense that on the people's grounds we would
grant an exception and allow a tribute to be held here in connection
with the Race for the Cure.
So I strongly support this resolution that would allow the use of the
Capitol grounds for the so-called Capitol tribute to breast cancer
survivors, and I do so in two capacities, or perhaps three, not only as
a member of Congress, but as the cochair of the Congressional Women's
Caucus, 50 Members strong, who all of us across party lines strongly
support this resolution, and, of course, as the Member representing the
Nation's Capital, which is proud and pleased to have this tribute take
place in this city.
I support this resolution for a special reason. I believe these
events have made a tremendous difference. The gentleman from Minnesota
(Mr. Oberstar) spoke about the need to raise consciousness. It is
raising awareness that is saving lives. It is raising awareness that
has sent women of every racial group and income group in huge numbers
now to take advantage of mammography.
What is most encouraging to me is to see how mammography has spread
across all the discernible lines, and that could simply not have
happened except for a very much elevated consciousness. We would not
have poor women and women of color going to get their mammograms by the
hundreds of thousands as we do today were it not for events like this
that did perform the simple agent of raising consciousness.
The Women's Caucus takes special note of this resolution and
especially supports it. Breast cancer was long an underfunded disease
spreading at frightening rates throughout our society, and the Women's
Caucus years ago took it as its own special mission and obligation to
see to it that funding was increased for the eradication of breast
cancer.
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Funding matters and raising consciousness matters. I think we see
that in the figures that were reported on March 13, that in the first 5
years of the 1990s the annual number of new cases for cancer of all
kinds fell steadily, and this happened among men and
[[Page H1181]]
women of all ethnic groups and most age groups.
I was particularly heartened that this downward trend for cancer was
noted among several specific kinds of cancer: lung, prostate, colon or
rectal and, yes, breast cancer.
This is, of course, as we might imagine, Mr. Speaker, the most
frightening form of cancer for women. Perhaps it is not the most
devastating, but it just as well may be, because it attacks the mind
and the spirit with special viciousness, even as it is attacking the
body.
Among women, breast cancer has declined for whites, and it has
declined for Asians and for Hispanics. But during those years, 1990 to
1995, it rose for blacks. This rise for one group and the continuing
numbers of women who get breast cancer of course takes away from the
very hopeful statistics that are beginning to be reported. Breast
cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths to American women,
second only to lung cancer. It is the leading cause of cancer death
among women ages 40 to 55.
Mr. Speaker, those are the ages when women are finally done with
child-rearing, can come forward and blossom fully; and to have cancer
occur at those prime years is simply intolerable. Even with the more
hopeful statistics, even with the access to mammograms we now see
across all groups in the society, 44,000 women died from breast cancer
in 1997 and 180,000 new cases of the disease were diagnosed. We can do
much better than that. We can do better than that not so much by curing
cancer with some magic potion but by preventing cancer and by detecting
cancer early with mammograms.
I greet this activity on the part of the Race for the Cure. I think
it is most appropriate for the Congress to show its special concern
beyond our funding, beyond the leadership of the Women's Caucus, by
opening up this place, these grounds, for this special tribute. The
Race for the Cure is a joyful event. There will be many breast cancer
survivors participating, but it must reminded us that the Race for the
Cure is still a race to be won.
Mr. KIM. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New
York (Mr. Gilman), Chairman of the Committee on International
Relations.
(Mr. GILMAN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me the
time.
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise in strong support of this measure.
The National Race for the Cure has had a major impact upon our Nation.
Last year, as I recall, there was a postage stamp dedicated to the Race
for the Cure, just to emphasize how important this national program is.
It raises millions and millions of dollars each year, and there is no
better place to show leadership for the national Race for the Cure than
here in our Nation's capital.
I know many of our congressional spouses, including my own, are very
actively involved in the National Race for the Cure, because they feel
very strongly about the impact upon women. It is for that reason I am
pleased to rise in support of this measure, and I hope our colleagues
give it full support.
Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, from time to time I have raised questions about various
events proposed for the Capitol grounds, some of which I have thought
were inappropriate or limited to a very narrow interest group. This
event, the National Race for the Cure, to be held on April 1, is a
broadly-inclusive event, one in which a wide range of people
participate. It does not serve a special interest, it serves all
interests. It is certainly in the category, in my classification, of
those kinds of events that are appropriate for the grounds of our
Nation's Capitol.
Mr. Speaker, the event that we will authorize by this resolution
will, again, contribute to continued public understanding and awareness
of breast cancer, I should mention, not only for women but also for
men. While some 178,000 cases are expected by the National Cancer
Institute to be diagnosed in women this year, also some 1,600 of breast
cancer in men will be diagnosed this year. That is about an average
number. It is much less a threat to men's health than breast cancer is
to women's health, but it should be noted for the Record that men are
not immune, either, from this dread disease.
While there has been an improvement in the detection rate, about a 4
percent decline in detection of breast cancers or incidents, I should
say, of breast cancer, that is minuscule. It is a movement in the right
direction, but it is minuscule. It shows how large the task is ahead of
us.
Let us engage in this event, participate, give it our moral support,
give it our physical support, not only here in the Nation's capital but
throughout the country in our respective States, so that the greater
awareness, the increased research that is undertaken year after year
and focused on this disease will mean for future generations of young
women that they will not have to wonder and worry about a fate that
befell their mothers and grandmothers; that hopefully the day will come
when there really is a cure and the race will be over.
Mrs. MORELLA. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise in strong support of
this bipartisan resolution authorizing the use of the Capitol Grounds
for a Breast Cancer Survivors Event Sponsored by the National Race for
the Cure.
While we have made progress in mounting an aggressive federal attack
on breast cancer and the tragedy it causes, we still have far to go.
Women continue to face a 1 in 8 chance of developing breast cancer
during their lifetimes. It remains the most frequent major cancer in
women and the second leading cause of cancer deaths among women. Last
year, an estimated 182,000 women were diagnosed with breast cancer and
46,000 died of the disease.
We must increase our investment in breast cancer research. We know
very little about how to prevent the disease and treatment options are
few. At least two-thirds of breast cancers occur in women with no known
risk factors.
Just last weekend, I was honored to present a leadership award to
Nancy Brinker, who established the Susan Komen Breast Cancer Foundation
and who created the Race for the Cure. This event has become the
nation's largest 5K series held in a record 86 cities throughout the
United States in 1998.
It is most appropriate that this House approve the use of our
nation's Capitol for this important event, and take this opportunity to
redouble our efforts to eradicate breast cancer.
Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. KIM. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Stearns). The question is on the motion
offered by the gentleman from California (Mr. Kim) that the House
suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution, H. Con. Res.
238, as amended.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor
thereof) the rules were suspended and the concurrent resolution, as
amended, was agreed to.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
____________________