Political Quotes

“This spring in my district in Oklahoma, the McAlpin family of Tahlequah lost their 2-year-old son, Kai, to pediatric cancer. Kai's parents refer to Kai as Warrior Kai because he fought cancer every day with courage and dedication like a true warrior. Included in H.R. 2430 today is the RACE for Children Act, which aims to create new and better pediatric treatment options for warriors like Kai. Currently, there are over 900 drugs in development to treat cancer in adults, while only a handful of drugs are being developed to fight cancer in children. Clearly, those statistics show that the law has not kept up with scientific innovation. RACE can help deliver lifesaving treatments for pediatric cancer patients by updating the Pediatric Research Act. This bill requires all drug manufacturers to test a new drug in a pediatric population before applying it to children during cancer treatment. RACE for Children puts safety first and ensures that researchers use scientific evidence when declaring effectiveness of a drug before providing it to patients. I am glad to see the RACE for Children Act included today, and I thank Chairman McCaul and Congressman Butterfield for their work on the bill. The fight of Warrior Kai continues with us.”