Cordova cancer survivor seeks research funding
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A cancer survivor from Cordova met earlier this month with Rep. Steve Cohen in his Memphis office and presented him with hundreds of signed petitions from local residents. The petitions call on lawmakers to boost the nation’s investment in lifesaving cancer research.
Similar events are taking place across the country with petitions gathered by the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) through the One Degree campaign.
One Degree, launched in March, is a nationwide effort to ask Congress to increase medical research funding at the National Institutes of Health by $6 billion over two years, including $1 billion for cancer research at the National Cancer Institute (NCI).
Lori Kuhuski, a 27-year colon cancer survivor and ACS CAN volunteer from Cordova, said, “Everyone has a connection to cancer — we’re all just One Degree away from a family member or friend who has fought the disease, and many of us have battled it ourselves.”
Kuhuski continued, “Despite progress against the disease, one person in this country still dies every minute from cancer. We must continue to stand together and fight back.”
The stories were collected via the website of OneDegreeProject.org, where citizens entered the names of loved ones with cancer.
“With nearly 15 million cancer survivors in the United States today and an estimated 1.7 million people who will be newly diagnosed this year, we believe that enough is enough.,” she said. “It’s time to fight back.”
Federal funding for cancer research and prevention programs has had a role in every major advance against this disease, resulting in 350 more lives saved from the disease per day than in 1991.
According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), nearly $30 billion funded almost 50,000 research grants nationwide. In Tennessee, NIH awarded more than $456 million in grants and contracts during FY2013 that directly supported close to 9,000 jobs in the state.
Today, NIH funding is still well below where it was prior to sequestration in 2013. When accounting for inflation, NCI’s budget is more than 26 percent ($1.2 billion) below its 2003 funding level and the NIH budget is more than 24 percent ($6.5 billion) below where its budget was in 2003.
For more information, visit acscan.org.
Sen. Alexander fights ‘joint employer’ ruling
Last week, U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) introduced legislation to roll back the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) “joint employer” decision.
He said the new “joint-employer” standard would make big businesses bigger and the middle class smaller by discouraging companies from franchising and contracting work to small businesses.
The ruling means that in many cases multiple employers will have to jointly negotiate working conditions with unions and share liability for labor law violations.
“This is an ominous move and one which I will continue to do everything in my power to stop,” Alexander wrote in his weekly column.
His “Protecting Local Business Opportunity Act” would reinstate the standard that an employer must have “actual, direct and immediate” control over an employee to be considered a joint employer.
Democrats nix Senate vote to deplore Iran deal
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Senate was poised for an “up or down” vote on a resolution that disapproved the nuclear agreement with Iran, but Democrats voted to block that vote.
U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said, “I believe the United States should negotiate with Iran, but should do so from a position of strength as we did with the Soviet Union. Disapproval of this deal makes it clear that Congress is willing to confront Iran’s non-nuclear illegal and inhumane activities.”
A bipartisan group of 58 senators voted to allow an up or down vote on a resolution to disapprove of President Obama’s nuclear agreement with Iran.
They were blocked from voting on that resolution by 42 Democrats.
