[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 121 (Tuesday, October 3, 2000)]
[House]
[Pages H8634-H8638]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SENSE OF HOUSE REGARDING FIGHT AGAINST BREAST CANCER
Mr. COBURN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the
resolution (H. Res. 278) expressing the sense of the House of
Representatives regarding the importance of education, early detection
and treatment, and other efforts in the fight against breast cancer.
The Clerk read as follows:
H. Res. 278
Whereas an estimated 175,000 women and 1,300 men will be
diagnosed with breast cancer in 1999, and an estimated 43,300
women and 400 men will die of the disease;
Whereas breast cancer is the most common form of cancer
among women, excluding skin cancers;
Whereas breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer
death among all women and the leading cause of cancer death
among women between ages 40 and 55;
Whereas breast cancer can often be treated most
successfully if detected early on;
Whereas education, regular clinical and self-examinations,
regular mammograms, and biopsies (when appropriate) are
critical to detecting and treating breast cancer in a timely
manner;
Whereas the American Cancer Society recommends that all
women aged 40 and over have annual screening mammograms and
clinical breast examinations by health professionals, that
women aged 20 to 39 have clinical examinations every three
years, and that all women aged 20 and over perform a breast
self-examination every month; and
Whereas the House of Representatives as an institution and
Members of Congress as individuals are in unique positions to
help raise public awareness about the detection and treatment
of breast cancer and to support the fight against breast
cancer: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of
Representatives that--
(1) all Americans, and above all women, should take an
active role in the fight against breast cancer by using all
the means available to them, including regular clinical and
self-examinations, regular mammograms, and biopsies (when
appropriate);
(2) the role played by national and community organizations
and health care providers in promoting awareness of the
importance of regular clinical and self-examinations, regular
mammograms, and biopsies (when appropriate), and in providing
information, support, and access to services, should be
recognized and applauded; and
(3) the Federal Government has a responsibility to--
(A) endeavor to raise awareness about the importance of the
early detection of, and proper treatment for, breast cancer;
(B) continue to fund research so that the causes of, and
improved treatment for, breast cancer may be discovered; and
(C) continue to consider ways to improve access to, and the
quality of, health services for detecting and treating breast
cancer.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Oklahoma (Mr. Coburn) and the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Brown) each will
control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Coburn).
Mr. COBURN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. In
our country this year, 175,000 women will be diagnosed with breast
cancer. That is very personal to me in that my sister has been
diagnosed with it, my sister-in-law, and a very close first cousin
recently died of this disease.
[[Page H8635]]
The facts that face American women is one in eight women in this
country will encounter this disease at some time in the future.
Prevention is a key to diagnosis. And as a practicing physician that
has diagnosed multiple women with breast cancer, I know the importance
of improving awareness and improving the knowledge of women in our
country and men as to the preventive measures that can take place.
I also think it is incumbent upon me to make sure that the American
public is aware of the connection between the incidence of breast
cancer and abortion.
There has now been, throughout the United States and Europe, 32
studies of which 29 absolutely connect a marked increase in the
likelihood of breast cancer when one has had an abortion. That goes up
if that abortion occurred before 18 or after 30, but nevertheless, the
risk is twofold.
Unfortunately, many in our country do not want the benefits of that
scientific data known, and that is unfortunate. Nevertheless, I think
the key thing is that we want women to be aware of what they can do to
protect themselves against breast cancer. We want to encourage the
awareness on the part of women in our country for risk factors
associated with that besides family members, smoking, as well as
abortion.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H. Res. 278, the importance of
education, early detection and treatment, and other efforts in fighting
breast cancer. I will be brief because I believe we will have a handful
of speakers that want to talk on this.
As my friend the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Coburn) said, October
is National Breast Cancer Month. One out of eight women in this country
will at some point in their lives be diagnosed with breast cancer.
Nothing is more important than early detection. Clearly, we know that
nothing is more important than education and women doing everything
from self-examination to mammograms to making sure that they make
frequent visits to the doctor and especially examinations after the age
of 40.
We founded in Ohio some time ago, about 6 or 7 years ago, the
Northeast Ohio Breast Cancer Task Force. That task force has been
especially active in working with local physicians and nurses and
working with other providers and especially has been active in
educating women of all ages throughout Northeast Ohio in terms of
education and in terms of self-examination and all of that.
So, Mr. Speaker, this resolution is important for all of us. It is
important for our daughters and for our wives and for our mothers and
for our sisters and for our families.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. COBURN. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the
gentleman from New Hampshire (Mr. Bass).
Mr. BASS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished gentleman from
Oklahoma for yielding to me.
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased today to rise to ask my colleagues to
support this breast cancer awareness resolution, a similar one I
introduced last year, as well, which also passed.
This will indeed be the second consecutive Congress to pass such a
resolution. I look forward to building on this work with my colleagues
in future Congresses.
I also want to thank the House leadership and the gentleman from
Virginia (Chairman Bliley) and the gentleman from Florida (Mr.
Bilirakis) and, of course, the gentlemen on both sides of the aisle
here for their help and leadership on this issue, as well as the
leadership of Members like the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Dunn)
and the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Kelly) and the gentleman from
Texas (Mr. Bentsen) as well as over a hundred other Members of Congress
who chose to cosponsor this resolution.
Mr. Speaker, the resolution outlines the devastating impact that
breast cancer has on far too many women as well as men every single
year. But it also notes the critical difference that education, early
detection and effective treatment can make.
Moreover, it reminds each and every one of us of the role that we can
play both as individual Members and as an institution in educating our
constituents and raising awareness of breast cancer. And that is really
the key to this resolution. The Congress can play a role in
communicating an important message to the American people and that
message and the effective communication of it may save countless lives
over the next year.
Now, the last decade saw a leveling off of the incidence rate and an
increase in the survival rate. But as we heard a minute ago, breast
cancer continues to remain the most common form of cancer among women
and the second leading cause of cancer deaths nationwide.
More than 180,000 women and some 1,400 men will be diagnosed with
breast cancer this year; and nearly 41,000 women and 400 men will die
of this disease.
Mr. Speaker, no woman, no man, no family should have to suffer all
that comes with breast cancer. But each and every one of us must do
everything we can to raise awareness of this disease and the importance
and methods of early detection and treatment.
As was mentioned before, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month;
and National Mammography Day is on October 20. With this in mind, I
urge my colleagues to pass this resolution today and to adhere to its
call upon us all to fight this deadly disease.
Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, I have a couple of comments.
The Congress is considering H. Res. 278, which it is late in the
session, and this is a good thing. As I said, I support it. I am a
cosponsor. It seems like if we look at this, virtually every Member of
the House almost is a cosponsor. But this is a resolution that other
than saying, we are against breast cancer, we are fighting against
breast cancer, we as a body want to go on record saying we think breast
cancer is a bad thing, encouraging women to do self-examination
beginning at the age of 20, encouraging women between 20 and 40 to get
every-three-year examinations from their doctor, encouraging women from
40 to get annual examinations especially if they have a family history,
all of those things, and this Congress has not, Mr. Speaker, tackled
the real issues in health care.
We still have not passed a prescription drug bill through this
Congress. We still have not passed a Patients' Bill of Rights through
this Congress. It is locked in conference committee. We still have not
sent to the President the Ryan White bill. We still have not sent to
the President the bill on health disparities. The real issues that we
ought to be addressing we have simply shunted side.
We are passing this resolution. Again, I support this resolution. But
we are passing resolutions that say nice things and tell us all to do
good things, but we simply are not moving in the direction this
Congress should move.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to my friend, the gentleman from
New Jersey (Mr. Pascrell).
Mr. PASCRELL. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Ohio (Mr.
Brown) for yielding me the time and also recognize and commend the work
of the gentleman from New Hampshire (Mr. Bass) for his leadership on
this issue.
Mr. Speaker, breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in
America excluding skin cancers and claims the lives of approximately
40,000 women in the United States each year. My friend, the gentleman
from Oklahoma (Mr. Coburn), has brought this to our attention time and
time again on health matters.
An estimated three million women in the United States are living with
breast cancer. Another two million have been diagnosed. And an
estimated one million do not yet know they have the disease.
One out of every eight women in the United States will develop breast
cancer in her lifetime, a risk that was one out of 14 in 1960. So we
are making progress. But it is not good enough.
This year a new case will be diagnosed every 3 minutes, and a woman
will die from breast cancer every 12 minutes. Of all women diagnosed
with
[[Page H8636]]
breast cancer, 48 percent will die from it within 20 years.
This resolution recognizes the importance of education, early
detection and treatment of breast cancer, which is critical to millions
of women and men and their families across this country.
This resolution is especially timely because October is the month we
recognize this horrible disease. All across America people are walking,
spreading education materials, sponsoring free mammograms, and hosting
charity walks to commemorate loved ones that are still fighting the
battle against breast cancer.
As Members of Congress, we have a responsibility to follow the tenet
laid out in this resolution. We must raise the profile of the
significance, the importance of regular checkups, breast self-
examinations, and early mammograms.
I encourage my colleagues to do the same and to promote and
participate in Breast Cancer Awareness Month activities across this
country. I commend those who brought it to this floor, and I am proud
to be a cosponsor of this legislation. I salute Members on both sides
of the aisle.
Mr. COBURN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the gentleman from New Hampshire
(Mr. Bass) for his leadership on this resolution. It is important to
note that in fact information is power and power leads to decisions
that can save people's lives.
The other thing I would like to answer in direction to the gentleman
from Ohio (Mr. Brown) and his comments, we have the breast and cervical
awareness bill that is being held up at this very time. The reason it
is not coming out of conference is because there are people who do not
want women to have information about cervical cancer.
The fact that they are objecting to the fact that women would be
notified that human pappiloma virus, the number one sexually
transmitted disease in the country that infects almost 40 million women
today and 30 million men, is the number one cause 99 percent of the
time that causes cervical cancer and we cannot get that bill that will
help women of moderate and poor means the treatment that they need for
breast and cervical cancer is because somebody does not want them to
have that information.
And so, the people that do not want women to have that information
are the people that do not want us to ever do anything despite the fact
that condoms are not 100 percent effective protection, and in fact they
are not protective at all according to the director of the NIH and the
National Cancer Institute.
So, back to the subject at hand. This is an important bill. I am very
thankful to the gentleman from New Hampshire (Mr. Bass), as is the
whole Committee on Commerce, for his leadership in this.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
{time} 1115
Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman
from Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro).
Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from New
Hampshire (Mr. Bass) for bringing this resolution to the floor today.
Increased awareness is vital if we are, in fact, to empower women in
the fight against breast cancer. I thank my colleague for drawing
attention to this issue.
Over the past 10 years, we have made great strides in the fight
against breast cancer through an increased investment in biomedical
research at the National Institutes of Health. But sadly, for many
women, the fight against breast cancer also means waging a battle with
their HMO over the amount of time that they can stay in a hospital.
Studies have shown that the average hospital stay for breast cancer
patients in Connecticut and across the Nation is decreasing. Despite
the medical standard of 2 to 4 days to recuperate and gain physical and
emotional strength, insurance companies regularly refuse to cover a
hospital stay and women find themselves forced to leave the hospital
only hours after surgery, still groggy from the anesthesia and in
physical and emotional pain.
This is the reason I introduced the Breast Cancer Patient Protection
Act, H.R. 116. The legislation ensures that women receive the care they
need and deserve while recovering from breast cancer surgery by
guaranteeing a minimum stay of 48 hours for a woman who is having a
mastectomy and 24 hours for a woman undergoing a lymph node removal. It
simply says that any decision in favor of a longer or shorter hospital
stay will be made by a doctor and a patient, not an HMO.
The bill has the bipartisan support of over 220 cosponsors, more than
enough, I might add, to be able to pass this House. Yet regrettably the
leadership of this House has refused to allow the Breast Cancer Patient
Protection Act to be considered on the floor. Resolutions and raising
awareness are vital, and I wholeheartedly support this effort. It is
through education and the awareness of this issue that, in fact, so
much and so many of our resources have been directed at breast cancer.
We also need to empower women as they struggle with breast cancer. I
urge the leadership of this House to bring this bipartisan bill to the
floor.
I have said on this floor many times in the past that I am a survivor
of ovarian cancer. When I went home, I had a very loving family. They
were not health care professionals but they cared deeply and took care
of me. Having the additional stay in the hospital for someone who is
facing a life-threatening illness is so critically important to both
their physical well-being and survival as well as their emotional well-
being and survival. We can pass a bill that has 220 cosponsors. It is a
bipartisan bill. I hope that I can engage my colleagues in this effort
to help us to bring this bill to the floor.
Mr. COBURN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
In response, I would just say I would hope that the gentlewoman would
help us provide the knowledge about human papilloma virus as she has on
this because that causes 99 percent of the cervical cancer in this
country and we have an attempt at covering up the pathogenesis and the
significant penetration of that disease in this country. I thank the
gentlewoman for her work.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman
from New York (Mrs. McCarthy).
Mrs. McCARTHY of New York. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this
legislation because this disease is too close for comfort for so many
women and their families. On Long Island, one in nine women have had to
face the living nightmare of breast cancer.
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I look forward to the day
when we no longer have to dedicate a month to bring attention to this
disease, because that will mean we have found a cure.
Mr. Speaker, as a nurse, I have seen firsthand the toll that this
disease takes on everyone involved. In addition, my area has one of the
highest incidences of breast cancer in the country. On Long Island,
approximately 127 of every 100,000 women will be diagnosed with breast
cancer compared with 100 of every 100,000 nationwide. Because of these
frightening statistics, we must increase funding for research, we must
find what the environmental causes are, we must raise awareness, and we
must find a cure today, because time is running out for too many of our
loved ones.
I urge all of my colleagues to pass this legislation and help find a
cure today.
Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman
from Texas (Mr. Bentsen).
(Mr. BENTSEN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
Mr. BENTSEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of this
legislation that would express the sense of the House of
Representatives that all Americans should take an active role in the
fight against breast cancer. As a cosponsor of this legislation, I
believe it is vitally important that we raise awareness about this
disease.
The statistics about breast cancer are alarming. In 1999, an
estimated 175,000 Americans will be diagnosed with breast cancer. In
addition, more than 45,000 Americans will die of this disease this
year. Breast cancer is the leading cause of death among women aged 40
to 55. This legislation will help to educate more Americans about this
disease and how early detection of breast cancer can save lives.
[[Page H8637]]
With early detection, many breast cancer patients can have successful
outcomes. All Americans should use all of the diagnostic tools
available to them to catch this disease in its earliest stages. If
found, many breast cancers can be cured. However, late detection
reduces the survival rates of these patients. Today, all Americans
should get regular clinical breast exams as well as mammograms. All
women should also be encouraged to conduct monthly self-examinations.
These self-examinations can empower women to learn more about their
bodies and to seek treatment if irregularities are found. Women should
also get biopsies when appropriate to determine whether any cancer is
present.
This legislation would also urge the House of Representatives to
provide maximum Federal funding for breast cancer research. As a
cochair of the Congressional Biomedical Caucus, I am strongly
supporting efforts to provide this funding for such research. Earlier
this year, we voted in the fiscal year 2001 Department of Defense
appropriations bill to include $175 million in Federal funds for peer-
reviewed breast cancer research.
I am also working to double the budget for the National Institutes of
Health where much of our biomedical, basic clinical research is funded.
For the past 2 years, we have successfully provided 15 percent more
funding for the NIH. This year, the House is working to provide a $20
billion budget for the NIH, the third installment on our 5-year effort
to double the NIH's budget. Today, only one-third of peer-reviewed,
merit-based research grants are funded by the NIH. This additional
investment will ensure that our Nation's scientists have the resources
they need to find a cure for breast cancer and other ailments. The NIH
budget has not been finalized, but I am hopeful that we can get this
passed.
Mr. Speaker, I believe that we in Congress have a role in informing
all Americans about breast cancer and the need for early detection.
This legislation is an important first step in providing the
information that Americans need to combat breast cancer while
encouraging more Federal funding for finding a cure. I urge my
colleagues to support the measure.
Mr. COBURN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from
Florida (Mr. Shaw).
Mr. SHAW. I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this bill. I think the fact
that we have Breast Cancer Awareness Month is a very positive step
forward. There is technology out there that helps tremendously in early
detection. I have a very special interest in this particular subject.
My wife Emily lost both her sister and her mother to cancer, and they
both had breast cancer. Obviously in my family, my daughters and my
wife are very, very cautious to be sure that they have their regular
mammograms and that they do what is necessary in order to find early
detection should they be stricken with this terrible disease.
Also, I would like to point out the new technology, the digital
technology out there that is just now coming online. The gentleman from
Wisconsin (Mr. Kleczka) and I have cosponsored a bill along with others
in order to fund the digital equipment and this new technology. I would
urge all of my colleagues to vote in favor of this bill.
Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman
from Wisconsin (Mr. Barrett).
Mr. BARRETT of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this
resolution. This is an important resolution and one that I hope all
Members of the House will support as well.
This is important for me personally. Today is my mother's birthday,
and I want to wish my mother a happy birthday. But I also want to tell
my fellow Members that it is equally important because she is a breast
cancer survivor, and she is able to celebrate this birthday because of
the treatment that she received. This is a disease that, if treated at
its earliest stages, is certainly a curable disease; and I think the
message that we have to get across to all women in this country is the
importance of self-examinations and the importance of getting treatment
at the earliest possible stage.
In honor of my mother, I would urge all my fellow Members to support
this resolution.
Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this resolution. Breast cancer, as
the gentleman from Wisconsin said, is a formidable threat. Complacency
is a luxury that we cannot afford, not when 180,000 women are diagnosed
with breast cancer each year in this country, not when one in eight
women will be diagnosed during their lifetime, not when 46,000 women
die each year from this disease.
I am proud to be an original cosponsor of H. Res. 278 which
underscores how important it is to combat breast cancer with every tool
at our disposal. It means early detection, it means education and
efforts to raise public awareness, it means research, it means access
to treatment. It is going to take this momentum of what all the people
around the country are doing and a commensurate response from the
public sector to fight and win this battle.
It is also going to take a Congress which does its job, not just in
reminding the public that education, that early detection, that
prevention, all of those are important but it is also going to take a
Congress which does its job by passing a prescription drug bill which
this Congress has failed to do, by passing the Patients' Bill of Rights
which the House-Senate conference committee has locked up, with passing
the Ryan White bill, with passing other legislation that really matters
in the fight against breast cancer.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. COBURN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I
want to relate a story about a woman by the name of Sharon Coburn Wetz.
She was a scrub nurse RN for a surgeon in Midwest City, Oklahoma. The
vast majority of her early career was spent in assisting on surgery of
the breast. Ironically, in 1983 she developed breast cancer herself as
a very young woman. This last year she died as a result of that
disease. She spent the 15 years before she died doing nothing but
helping other women in diagnosis, treatment and reaching for recovery
as an expert in mammography, treatment medically and assistance in the
breast cancer center at the University of Oklahoma. I think it is
fitting that her name be mentioned at this time because in the true
spirit of most women and most mothers, what she did was gave of
herself.
Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman
from New Hampshire (Mr. Bass) for the concluding statements.
Mr. BASS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this
time. I want to thank all of my colleagues in this body for supporting
this significant resolution. As we have seen, there is probably no
Member of Congress who cannot cite someone close to them who has had
breast cancer. I will only relate one individual who is close to me who
died of breast cancer some 28 years ago during a time when treatment
for breast cancer was barbaric at best. She was 48 years old when she
was diagnosed, and she died at the age of 51. That individual was my
mother.
I want to commend this Congress for paying special attention to this
significant disease, celebrating the progress that we have made in the
last 20 years but understanding that there is enormous work yet to go,
and we all must put our shoulders to the wheel to find a cure for this
horrible disease.
General Leave
Mr. COBURN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may
have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks
on this legislation and to insert extraneous material on the bill.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. LaTourette). Is there objection to the
request of the gentleman from Oklahoma?
There was no objection.
Mr. EVERETT. Mr. Speaker, today, I lend my wholehearted support to H.
Res. 278, the Importance of Education and Early Detection in Fighting
Breast Cancer Act and thank my colleague, Representative Charlie Bass,
for introducing this resolution.
Breast cancer strikes an estimated 180,000 women a year and kills
over 46,000 annually. As we all know, the best defense against this
dreaded disease is early preventative screenings and treatment. This is
crucial.
If cancer is detected, it is extremely important to have access to
reliable and understandable information on breast cancer.
[[Page H8638]]
Sources of knowledge and assistance, such as the American Cancer
Society, deserve our thanks and recognition for their continued good
work.
Americans also need information on all of the treatment options
available to them. Unfortunately, I have learned this from personal
experience.
Last January, my wife received the life-altering news that she had
breast cancer. Despite her annual check-ups and mammograms, our doctors
told us that she faced undergoing a radical bilateral mastectomy. We
felt extreme shock that the prognosis was so drastic.
However, after much research on the subject, she made the decision
that this was indeed the best option for her. Her surgery was a
complete success, and she has not even required any followup
chemotherapy or medication.
So, I close with the same message--We must support and encourage the
utilization of all of the modern-day prevention, detection and
treatment options available. Our experience has shown us that this is
essential in the battle against breast cancer.
Mr. POMEROY. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H. Res. 278 and
in honor of the millions of women who have shown the strength and
courage to fight back against breast cancer. Breast cancer is the most
common form of cancer among women in the United States. This year,
almost 182,800 new cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed and an
estimated 40,800 women will die from this terrible disease.
Breast cancer touches not only the lives of those afflicted with the
disease, but also their loved ones. Recently, my fellow North Dakotans
came together to pray for a courageous woman, a woman who has dedicated
her life to improving the health and welfare of others. Heidi Heitkamp,
our state Attorney General, was diagnosed with breast cancer. Like so
many afflicted with this disease, however, the strength, determination,
and sheer will that Heidi has displayed through this most difficult of
times has been an inspiration to her family, friends and all who know
her.
Mr. Speaker, the story of Heidi Heitkamp, like that of so many other
women, is also a story of hope. Each year, the number of deaths caused
by breast cancer has slowly fallen. Increased education and increased
technology has extended the life and increased the survival rate of
those afflicted with this disease. The fight against breast cancer can
be won. I call on my colleagues to join the fight by increasing funding
for breast cancer research, increasing access to screening and
treatment options, and increasing awareness. I call on my colleagues to
fight for the lives of their mothers, sisters and other loved ones.
Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Res. 278,
which expresses the sense of the House that all Americans, and above
all women, should take an active role in the fight against breast
cancer by using all the means available to them, including regular
clinical and self-examinations, regular mammograms, and biopsies.
By calling for greater awareness and education for all women, may
will benefit from early detection and by following up a screening with
medical treatment, fewer women will succumb to this devastating
disease.
Mr. Speaker, this issue is especially important to me and to my
constituents, especially those in Rockland County. Recent studies have
found that Rockland County has the highest rate of breast cancer in New
York State and according to some studies, in the Nation. This
legislation will help inform many of my constituents of how they can
take an active role in the flight against breast cancer. Moreover, this
resolution applauds and recognizes the role played by national and
community organizations and health care providers in promoting
awareness of the importance of regular clinical and self-examinations,
regular mammograms, and biopsies and in providing information, support,
and access to services. I strongly support this legislation and urge my
colleagues to fund support this measure.
Mr. COBURN. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Coburn) that the House suspend the rules
and agree to the resolution, House Resolution 278.
The question was taken.
Mr. BASS. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be
postponed.
____________________