CLC Urges Support of Specter-Harkin Amendment to FY 2009 Budget Resolution
(March 11, 2008)

Dear Senator:

The undersigned cancer patient, provider, and research organizations request your support for the amendment offered by Senators Specter and Harkin to add $2.1 billion to the budget for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This amendment, to be offered during consideration of the FY 2009 Budget Resolution (S.Con.Res. 70), would bring the total increase for NIH in the budget resolution to $3 billion.

Since FY 2003, funding for NIH has been stagnant, failing to keep pace with biomedical research inflation. The impact on NIH has been significant as the agency has lost 10 percent of its purchasing power since the completion of the NIH doubling in FY 2003. And that stagnation translates into research opportunities lost and new research avenues ignored. The NIH budget freeze proposed by the Bush Administration for FY 2009 poses a continuing threat to research progress.

The period of the doubling of the NIH budget has been hailed as a time when basic science advanced and fundamental knowledge regarding cancer and other life-threatening diseases exploded. The translation of that scientific knowledge into new treatments is being stymied by flat NIH funding, as established researchers face funding cuts, young investigators struggle to receive grants, and clinical trials are slowed. The Specter-Harkin amendment seeks to reverse the trend in NIH funding and boost the resources available for biomedical research.

We urge you to vote “yes” on the Specter-Harkin NIH amendment.

Sincerely,

American Psychosocial Oncology Society
American Society of Clinical Oncology
American Society for Therapeutic Radiology & Oncology
Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network
C3: Colorectal Cancer Coalition
Cancer Care
The Children's Cause for Cancer Advocacy
Coalition of Cancer Cooperative Groups
Gilda's Club Worldwide
International Myeloma Foundation
Kidney Cancer Association
Lance Armstrong Foundation
The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
Lung Cancer Alliance
Lymphoma Research Foundation
Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation
National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship
National Lung Cancer Partnership
National Patient Advocate Foundation
North American Brain Tumor Coalition
Ovarian Cancer National Alliance.
Pancreatic Cancer Action Network
Prevent Cancer Foundation
Sarcoma Foundation of America
Susan G. Komen for the Cure Advocacy Alliance
Us TOO International Prostate Cancer Education and Support Network
The Wellness Community
Y-ME National Breast Cancer

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