William L. Clay: “as a sponsor of H.R. 1236, the bill would make permanent the breast cancer research stamp, which first went on sale on…”

“as a sponsor of H.R. 1236, the bill would make permanent the breast cancer research stamp, which first went on sale on July 29, 1998. After several discussions with the Postal Service, I offered an amendment in the nature of a substitute to H.R. 1236 during the Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Postal Service and the District of Columbia markup on September 18, 2007. The amendment retained the Postal Service's flexibility by reauthorizing the breast cancer stamp for an additional 4 years and strengthens the bill's reporting requirements. The new reporting requirements would assess the breast cancer stamp's effectiveness and appropriateness and the cost to the Postal Service for administering the program to find a cure for breast cancer. The amendment was agreed to by voice vote. H.R. 1236, as amended, was reported from the Oversight Committee on September 20, 2007, by a voice vote. In America, breast cancer is reported as the second leading cause of cancer deaths among women after lung cancer. The American Cancer Society estimated 178,480 women will be diagnosed this year with invasive breast cancer. In the U.S., approximately 40,000 will die. The Postal Service has sold over 785.6 million breast cancer research stamps from which $54.626 million have been transferred to the National Institutes of Health and DOD for breast cancer research and awareness. I encourage my colleagues to support H.R. 1236 and urge the swift passage of this bill.”