[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 606]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    SUSAN G. KOMEN RACE FOR THE CURE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
California (Ms. Speier) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. SPEIER. Mr. Speaker, today I rise quite saddened by the news that 
the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure has made a political decision--a 
fine nonprofit that I have been associated with for years. I've run in 
the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. I've walked in the Race for the 
Cure. I have been the emcee of a number of events locally that they 
have held. So I have been a big booster of the Susan G. Komen 
organization. But not anymore.
  Their announcement yesterday that they are no longer going to fund 
any organization that is being investigated by a Federal, State, or 
local body means that Planned Parenthood is no longer going to receive 
$600,000 a year. Now, ironically, yesterday, the Komen organization 
also announced, and with great concern in a statement, that the dismal 
rate of breast cancer screening with women who do not have insurance is 
something like 38.2 percent.

                              {time}  1030

  Last year, the Planned Parenthood organization was responsible for 
over 700,000--700,000--breast cancer screenings for women who are poor, 
for women who don't have insurance, for women who seek to get the 
health care they get through Planned Parenthood. So over the last 5 
years, there have been 4 million breast cancer screenings by Planned 
Parenthood. Komen has funded about 170,000 of them through Planned 
Parenthood.
  So what does this mean? Well, I guess it means that Susan G. Komen 
has decided to become a 501(c)(4), because no longer do they want to be 
providing nonprofits. They want to become a political advocacy group.
  Last time I checked, we were all presumed innocent until proven 
guilty and we looked to investigations in the Federal judicial branch; 
we looked to investigations by the U.S. Attorney or the district 
attorney. Far be it from us to rely on the House of Representatives 
holding a hearing as being emblematic of justice, because oftentimes 
it's a political sandbox.
  Now, this ostensible investigation is one that has been called on by 
Mr. Stearns, who is the subcommittee chair of Energy and Commerce on 
Oversight. The hearing has never been held. So why would Susan G. Komen 
take the remarkable step of saying they are no longer going to fund 
Planned Parenthood?
  I suppose when we review NIH and bring them under some investigation 
that they will stop funding NIH to the tune of a million dollars, or I 
suppose that when we have a pharmaceutical company that we bring to the 
Hill to ask them questions about a particular activity that they will 
stop accepting sponsor money from that particular pharmaceutical 
company.
  All of you across this country that feel that Susan G. Komen should 
stick to what it knows, and that is breast cancer research, breast 
cancer screening, and support and promote those activities by 
organizations that do the research and do the screening, I ask you to 
call them at 1-877-465-6636 and tell them that you want them to stick 
to what they know.
  Let's not make this a race to the political bottom.

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