[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 169 (Thursday, November 20, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Page S15289]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. BROWNBACK (for himself and Mr. Gregg):
  S. 1899. A bill to improve data collection and dissemination, 
treatment, and research relating to cancer, and for other purposes; to 
the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
  Mr. BROWNBACK. Mr. President, ours is a remarkable Nation.
  America is the home to 90 of the top 100 universities. Americans work 
an average of 300 hours more per year than our friends in Europe. More 
patents are applied for in this Nation each year than in all of the EU 
member states combined. We lead the world in research and development. 
Perhaps the area in which our labor and investment will have the most 
profound impact, is in field of the life sciences.
  This year our Nation met a remarkable goal. In the span of the last 5 
years we have doubled our financial commitment to basic health research 
funding. Those funds will go toward saving and extending the lives of, 
and improving the quality of life for, people around the world.
  Our history has proven that when this Nation is resolute and 
determined, we can achieve remarkable things.
  In 1939, the United States was producing 800 military airplanes per 
year. At the onset of World War II, President Roosevelt challenged the 
Nation to increase manufacturing to 4,000 planes per month. By the end 
of 1943, in perhaps the greatest industrial feat in history, the United 
States was producing 8,000 military aircraft per month.
  On May 5, 1961, the United States launched Mercury 3 and Alan Shepard 
became the first American in space, spending a total of 15 minutes and 
28 seconds in sub-orbit. Twenty days later President Kennedy addressed 
a joint session of Congress and proposed that our Nation land a man on 
the moon before the end of the decade. Only July 29, 1969, four days 
after leaving the launch pad, Neil Armstrong stepped from the lunar 
module to the surface of the moon in perhaps the greatest engineering 
and technological feat in history.
  Between 1996 and 1997, for the first time, the total number of cancer 
deaths in the United States did not rise. That trend has continued to 
this very day. Today, there are at least 50 compounds under 
investigation for efficacy as cancer preventives and untold research is 
being performed in search of new cures and treatments for cancer. This 
is the time for our Nation to become resolute and determined to achieve 
what may be the greatest scientific feat in history--to win the war on 
cancer.
  Our Nation began its commitment to the War on Cancer with the passage 
of the National Cancer Institute Act of 1937. In 1971, Congress 
committed itself to win the war with the passage of the National Cancer 
Act. Today, I am joined by the Chairman of the Health, Education, 
Labor, and Pensions Committee Judd Gregg in beginning the next campaign 
of this war, with the introduction of the National Cancer Act of 2003. 
With this bill we renew our commitment to the fight, and join NCI 
Director Dr. Andrew Von Eshenbach in his commitment to make cancer 
survivorship the rule and cancer deaths rare by 2015.
  Major provisions within the legislation include: Enhancing our 
current cancer registry system; enhancing our existing screening 
mechanisms; creating a new Patient Education Program; enhancing NCI 
Designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers; elevating the importance of 
pain management and survivorship throughout the nation's cancer 
programs; authorizing the Office of Survivorship within NCI; freeing 
the NCI to engage private entities to further cancer research; and 
providing patients with greater access to experimental therapies.
  In the coming months, I look forward to working with the Chairman, 
the Administration and other members interested committed to winning 
the War on Cancer, to get this bill to markup, to the floor and to the 
President's desk.
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