[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 97 (Monday, July 24, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Page S7472]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                BREAST AND CERVICAL CANCER TREATMENT ACT

  Mr. KOHL. Mr. President, I rise today to express my strong support 
for the Breast and Cervical Cancer Treatment Act and urge that it be 
brought to the Senate floor for a vote.
  Sadly, breast and cervical cancer will afflict nearly 200,000 women 
this year, and take the lives of more than 45,000. Women in every State 
and every community in the country are today facing the daunting 
challenge of overcoming these diseases. They are not strangers; they 
are our sisters, mothers, aunts, and grandmothers. They are people we 
love and care about.
  The statistics are disturbing. The family stories are sobering. But 
let us find hope in the strides that we have made so far. In 1991, 
Congress created the Early Detection Program at the Centers for Disease 
Control and Prevention, which provided low-income, uninsured women with 
breast and cervical cancer screening services. It was a positive first 
step toward ensuring that every woman, regardless of her annual income 
and insurance situation, could request a screening for breast and 
cervical cancer. I wholeheartedly support the program, and I know many 
of my colleagues do as well.
  However, just as critical as guaranteeing universal access to cancer 
screening is the need to provide treatment options following a 
diagnosis of cancer. While the CDC Early Detection Program supplies 
participating women with an evaluation, it offers nothing in the way of 
treatment should that evaluation reveal cancer. The very same women who 
are not expected to pay for a screening are somehow expected to finance 
their own treatment program. It simply does not make sense.
  We must, therefore, draw a line from A to B, from screening to 
treatment. The Breast and Cervical Cancer Treatment Act, a bill I am 
pleased to co-sponsor, does just that. It gives States the option of 
offering Medicaid coverage to women that participated in the CDC Early 
Detection Program and were diagnosed as having breast or cervical 
cancer. In so doing, it provides a much-needed complement to the Early 
Detection Program.
  We have broad bipartisan support in the Senate to pass this bill. 
Nearly 80 Senators have cosponsored it. The program was included in the 
President's fiscal year 2001 budget. But we need a vote.
  As time in this Congressional term wanes, we are increasingly forced 
to make difficult choices about which bills to address. But I believe 
this bill must be a top priority. It is unacceptable that women who are 
diagnosed with cancer often go without life-saving treatment simply 
because they cannot afford it. Congress has the responsibility to act 
quickly on this issue.
  In the spirit of the CDC Early Detection program, which is 
approaching its 10th anniversary, I urge the leadership to bring S. 662 
to the floor as soon as possible, and advance America's fight against 
breast and cervical cancer.

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