Patsy T. Mink: “the Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill represents in my estimation the most important Federal spending bill we…”

“the Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill represents in my estimation the most important Federal spending bill we consider each year. It represents our investment in the human capital of this country--our investment in education, employment, and the health and well-being of our people. The bill before us, H.R. 2264, is a significant improvement over Labor-HHS-Education appropriation bills we have seen the majority report out of committee over the last 2 years. This bill includes increase funding in priority areas such as health research at the National Institutes of Health, job training, and education programs. This, I believe, is a direct result of the persistence of our President and congressional Democrats in protecting several key spending areas during budget negotiations earlier this year. I am pleased that the bill includes increased funding for the National Institutes of Health by $764 million and that nearly $124 million of this amount will be directed to increases for the National Cancer Institute. With language included in the committee report listing ovarian cancer as a research priority, I am confident that a portion of this increase will go to enhance efforts in ovarian cancer early detection and prevention research. This year 26,800 American women will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer. It is truly disheartening that most of them will be diagnosed too late and fewer than half of them will survive 5 more years.”