$10 Million Going for Childhood Cancer Research

July 26, 2009

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In the midst of a raging national health care debate, Congressman Michael McCaul says he has helped secure $10 million in funding for childhood cancer research in the annual Health and Human Services spending bill.

However, it represents only one third of the $30 million needed to fully fund a program that passed the Congress with overwhelming bipartisan support.

“This is a partial victory,” said McCaul, whose 10^th District includes Washington County. “But I’m very disappointed that while we’re recklessly spending trillions of dollars we can’t bring full funding to authorized levels for the most precious resource we have in this country – our children – to protect them from cancer.”

McCaul and fellow Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.), co-chairs of the House Pediatric Oncology Caucus, requested full funding for the Caroline Pryce Walker Conquer Childhood Cancer Act earlier this year and offered an amendment to the bill when the authorized amount was not provided.

But the Chairman of the Appropriations Committee, David Obey (D-Wis.), blocked its passage even though the amendment had broad bipartisan support.

“It is very sad to know that a promise to children with cancer can be so easily broken in a year that our Congress can give billions of dollars to unworthy bankers and automakers who cannot properly manage their money,” Tim and Donna Culliver of Brenham said in a prepared statement. “Something is wrong with this picture.”

The Cullivers lost their 4-year-old son Adam to cancer in 2003. McCaul was a lead cosponsor of the Caroline Pryce Walker Conquer Childhood Cancer Act when it was passed unanimously by the House last year.

“We are spending hundreds of millions of dollars on brand new state of the art buildings for the NIH,” said McCaul. “It only makes sense to fund the research that’s happening inside.”

In the United States in 2007, approximately 10,400 children under age 15 were diagnosed with cancer and about 1,545 children will die from the disease, according to the NIH’s National Cancer Institute. This makes cancer the leading cause of death by disease among U.S. children 1 to 14 years of age.