Legislative Updates from Washington, DC
With midterm elections quickly approaching and the 117th Congress wrapping up at the end of the year, there’s a lot of legislative activity still in flux. Here are a few of the items we’re closely following and engaging around this fall:
Continuing Resolution (CR): As widely predicted, Members of Congress were unable to reach an agreement on a final fiscal year 2023 (FY23) omnibus bill before the September 30th midnight deadline, instead passing a 10-week Continuing Resolution (CR) that keeps the government open and funded at last year's spending levels through December 16, 2022. As appropriators continue to negotiate on the full FY23 spending package, please join us in reiterating the cancer community's ask for strong funding for the National Cancer Institute and our childhood cancer priorities. We also ask Congress to act with expediency to pass a final omnibus spending package, as ongoing Continuing Resolutions stifle progress in science and research by stalling long-term projects. Take Action ››
PDUFA Reauthorization: The short-term spending deal reached last week includes a five-year reauthorization of the current FDA Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA). This law, which requires reauthorization every five years, provides FDA with the necessary resources to maintain a predictable and efficient review process for human drug and biologic products. Among the many aspects that aim to accelerate the drug approval process, the current PDUFA that expires September 30 includes RACE for Children Act provisions that require companies to accelerate early pediatric evaluation of molecularly targeted cancer drugs. The new spending bill ensures a "clean reauthorization," meaning that it extends these programs for five more years but does not contain any new policy measures, including provisions championed by Children's Cancer Cause. The short-term nature of the CR may mean there is still a window of opportunity to secure additional policy provisions as negotiations continue.
STAR Reauthorization Act: The White House announced its endorsement of the Childhood Cancer STAR Reauthorization Act at a briefing we attended in September. The Childhood Cancer Survivorship, Treatment, Access and Research (STAR) Act is the most comprehensive childhood cancer bill in history and was signed into law in 2018. The legislation authorized $30 million every year for five years to fund STAR Act programs. As the original STAR Act nears its expiration, we ask you to join us in seeking five more years of funding through the STAR Reauthorization Act. Take Action ››
DIPG Awareness Resolution: Our thanks to Janet Demeter of Jack's Angels Foundation and the DIPG Advocacy Group for this guest blog post about H. Res. 404, a House resolution that would make history as one of only two “commemorative” resolutions to pass the House (the other being for Patriot’s Day). Janet writes more about the importance of this awareness resolution and how you can help secure its passage before the end of the year.
Congressional Childhood Cancer Caucus: One of the many events in DC that we participated in during September was the 13th Annual Childhood Cancer Summit, hosted by the co-chairs of the Congressional Childhood Cancer Caucus. We hope you'll join us in welcoming Representatives Kathy Castor and Ami Bera as new Caucus co-chairs for the coming year, joining the leadership team of Reps. Michael McCaul and Mike Kelly. We thank departing co-chairs Reps. Jackie Speier and G.K. Butterfield, both of whom are retiring from Congress, for their many years of service to the childhood cancer community.
Take your advocacy efforts a step further! The updated and revised Children's Cancer Cause Advocacy Toolkit is available now for digital download. This guidebook will give you the tools you need to become an informed, effective advocate for kids with cancer and childhood cancer survivors.
This free toolkit walks advocates through childhood cancer facts and talking points, as well as messaging strategies, relationship-building tools, step-by-step instructions for meeting with Members of Congress, and much more. This how-to guide contains sample templates for writing letters to elected officials and local media outlets, and it covers fresh topics like the rise of virtual lobbying as an outcome of the pandemic.