Friends of Cancer Research Newsletter

House and Senate Move Forward on FY 2007 Appropriations

With little agreement on fiscal year (FY) 2007 health and education funding levels, the House and Senate are each pushing ahead with their appropriations bills. On May 19, the House adopted its FY 2007 Budget Resolution, after moderate Republicans secured an agreement with House leadership that calls for an additional $4.1 billion in funding for health and education programs. In March, the Senate overwhelmingly approved the Specter-Harkin Amendment that provides an additional $7.1 billion to support funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as well as other critical health and education programs. With the House and Senate approving vastly different budget resolutions, Congressional leadership has decided to move forward with FY 2007 appropriations without convening a budget resolution conference.

FY 2007 House Budget Resolution

Passage of the House FY 2007 Budget Resolution was a partial victory for supporters of increased health and education funding. Several moderate House Republicans led the charge, including Representatives Michael Castle (DE), Nancy Johnson (CT), and David Reichert (WA). They originally proposed a budget amendment similar to the Specter-Harkin Amendment that would increase funding for the Labor-Health and Human Services (HHS)-Education Appropriation by $7.158 billion—to bring the House Budget to its FY 2006 level, plus a 2 percent inflationary increase. However, after complex negotiations, the House Budget Resolution was amended to create a $4.1 billion reserve fund for health, education, and other domestic priorities, but only if these funds are offset by savings from other discretionary or mandatory programs.

House and Senate Appropriations for Health and Education Programs

Since the House and Senate are not holding a budget resolution conference, the Senate needs to establish its overall discretionary spending cap before moving forward with their appropriations bills (the House does not need to approve such a measure). Indications are that the Senate leadership is planning to use an overall spending cap of $873 billion for FY 2007, the same level in President George W. Bush’s proposed FY 2007 Budget as well as the level being used in the House.

With overwhelming support in the Senate for the additional $7.1 billion for health and education programs in the Specter-Harkin Amendment, there is an effort underway to ensure that the Senate provides that entire amount as it begins the FY 2007 appropriations process. Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and several of her colleagues sent a letter to Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) and Senate Appropriations Chairman Thad Cochran (R-MS) asking them to adhere to the funding levels that the Senate approved as part of its budget resolution earlier this year, including the $7.1 billion in the Specter-Harkin Amendment.

Right now, Chairman Cochran’s plan is to shift funding from defense and foreign operations accounts to Labor-HHS-Education to increase the allocation for health and education programs, making it slightly higher than the House Subcommittee allocation, which provides $4.1 billion more than the President's Budget request.

In the House, the Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee met on Wednesday, June 7, and approved its version of the FY 2007 appropriations bill. The Subcommittee’s measure provides NIH with $28.258 billion, a cut of $306 million below FY 2006 levels. In addition, the Subcommittee provided the National Cancer Institute with $4.753 billion, a cut of $39.747 million. The bill is expected to be taken up by the full House Appropriations Committee on June 13.

House Appropriations for the Food and Drug Administration

On Tuesday, May 23, the House Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee approved its FY 2007 appropriations bill. Overall funding for the bill was $93.6 billion, with FDA receiving $1.54 billion in appropriated dollars, a $50 million or 3.3 percent increase over FY 2006. The President’s Budget request for FDA included $1.55 billion in budget authority and $402 million in industry user fees, so the House Subcommittee approved a funding level about $2 million below the President’s Budget.

If you have questions, or need more information, please contact FOCR Director of Government Affairs Jeff Coughlin at (202) 944-6643 or jcoughlin@focr.org.

UPCOMING FRIENDS EVENTS

AACR/AACI/FOCR To Host “Cancer Research – Benefiting All Americans” Capitol Hill Day on June 28^th

On June 28, 2006, over 50 leaders from the cancer community will meet and educate members of Congress on the importance of cancer research, as well as support the development of the next generation of cancer investigators. On their visits, Hill Day participants will discuss research opportunities in cancer today and the future of innovative science in the field.

The AACR/AACI/FOCR Hill Day will conclude with a Congressional Reception, for which all Members of Congress have been invited.

Friends Announces Plans for Special Gala Celebrating 10^th Anniversary

Friends of Cancer Research is excited to announce plans for a special gala evening on November 15th celebrating our 10^th Anniversary. Honorees will include prominent members of Congress, the Administration, and the entertainment industry who have demonstrated steadfast leadership and support in their work against cancer. More details will follow in the coming months. For more immediate information and sponsorship inquiries, please call (202) 944-6703.

Friends to Participate in Booz Allen's PGA Tournament Birdies for Charity

This month, over 100 of the world's best golfers will be competing at the Washington area's only PGA Tour Stop - the Booz Allen Classic PGA Tour Golf Tournament. Friends of Cancer Research is excited to be participating in the tournament's charity component, Birdies for Charity, which is the official fundraising program of Booz Allen. The program enables organizations to receive 100% of the proceeds (with the exception of credit card fees) raised by pledge money, so your donation will go directly to Friends and will be put to use in our programs.

To make a pledge to Friends of Cancer Research through Birdies for Charity, visit Booz Allen Classic: Birdies for Charity and select your pledge amount — 1¢, 2¢, 3¢, a nickel, a dime, or more for every birdie scored. With an average1,600 birdies scored, a 2¢ pledge would be about a $32.00 donation, 3¢ about $48.00 donation, etc.

SCIENCE CORNER

Decade of Genomic Discoveries

During the 10 years of action, education, and advocacy of Friends of Cancer Research, the face of cancer research has seen many monumental changes. While it was 1986 when the first tumor suppressor gene was isolated, today it is widely known in the cancer research community that tumor suppressor genes encode proteins that regulate cell growth. When genetic mutations render such proteins abnormal, unregulated proliferation and/or cell death can result in cancerous growth. The early 90’s were highlighted by a number of genetic mutations being associated with cancer. Notable examples include the identification of APC (adenomatous polyposis coli) tumor suppressor gene association with hereditary colorectal cancer (1991), isolation of VHL (von Hippel-Lindau tumor suppressor), associated with a number of benign and malignant tumors, and BRCA1/BRCA2 mutations observed in breast cancer (1994).

Such discoveries led to a new era of cancer research over the past ten years. A huge contributor to the increasing genetic and molecular basis of cancer research was the Human Genome Project. Although initially launched in 1990, the first pilot projects coincidentally began in the U.S. the same year that Friends of Cancer Research was founded. As an international consortium embarked upon the challenge of sequencing the entire human genome, the project was considered to be one of the most ambitious scientific undertakings of all time. Upon its completion in 2003, co-investigator of the 1959 monumental discovery of the DNA double helix structure, James Watson, Ph.D., said, “The completion of the Human Genome Project is a truly momentous occasion for every human being around the globe.”

Today, all of the data generated by the human genome project is found in a database that is freely available to scientists around the world. This information has revolutionized scientific research in the past decade. For example, in 1995 the entire pharmaceutical industry worked on about 500 targets for drug development, and today there are over 50,000 potential targets and over 1,600 genes associated with human disease. This sequencing of the human genome, in part, has helped scientists discover new genetic mutations, subsequent protein abnormalities, and treatment targets in human disease. It also created new technologies and tools which researchers now rely upon for future discovery. Furthermore, understanding the human genome has laid the groundwork for greater understanding of biological processes, more personalized medicine, and earlier detection of disease. Ten years ago the human genome was a new frontier. Today, it is the groundwork for the current genetic understanding of cancer and will help propel cancer research into the molecular-based decades to come.

This month's spotlight features Dr. Raymond Woosley, MD, PhD. Dr. Woosley currently serves as President of the Critical Path Institute (C-Path), a non-profit corporation formed by the Food and Drug Administration, SRI, International and the University of Arizona to accelerate the development of safe innovative medicines. Published in over 290 publications, Dr. Woosley's work focuses on the basic and clinical pharmacology of drugs and holds eleven patents for four drugs and has one patent pending. His leadership has been pivotal to the improvement and collaboration of the medical community surrounding drug safety. [Click for for full interview]

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