Congress on Deadline to Pass New Spending Bill
Just weeks remain in the 116th Congress but there is still much work to be done. The current Continuing Resolution funding the government expires on December 11th.
Congressional conferees - Members of Congress tasked with brokering an agreement between the House and Senate - are in the process of finalizing budget numbers. We’ve reached out to Congress this week as part of the One Voice Against Cancer coalition (full letter) and the Alliance for Childhood Cancer (full letter).
It’s a critical time for advocates to weigh in and ensure that our community's top priorities are well-represented in the final FY2021 spending bill:
At least $43.68 billion for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and $6.72 billion for the National Cancer Institute (NCI);
Emergency funding of $15.5 billion to restart research and clinical trials impacted by COVID-19 and to further pandemic-related research;
$30 million in funding for the Childhood Cancer STAR Act, to ensure that programs created by the STAR Act can move forward for another year;
$50 million to continue the Childhood Cancer Data Initiative, which will establish more efficient ways to share and use childhood cancer data.
Join us in this final push around FY2021 appropriations.
“We are extremely pleased that both the Senate and House have provided significant increases in funding to the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute. We join with the leading national cancer organizations in requesting that you provide the largest possible increase in the final appropriations agreement.”
Another legislative item requiring Congressional attention by December 11th is the Creating Hope Reauthorization Act, which would continue the voucher program that incentivizes the pharmaceutical industry to develop pediatric cancer drugs that are otherwise cost-prohibitive. The House passed this legislation (H.R.4439) on September 29th, extending the voucher program for four more years. The Senate now needs to take action on the companion bill (S.4010) to secure its passage.
Without Senate action, the program would have expired on September 30th but it gained a temporary reprieve with its inclusion in the Continuing Resolution that kept the government from shutting down. But now it faces the threat of extinction once more.
Please join us in requesting Senate passage or inclusion in any end-of-year package: Take action.