Childhood Cancer Survivorship, Treatment, Access, and Research Act of 2016

Floor Speech

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Mr. McCAUL. Mr. Speaker, I want to also thank the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Burgess) for his work on this effort as well. I chair the Committee on Homeland Security, but I also chair the Congressional Childhood Cancer Caucus. It is one of the biggest threats to our children. It is the number one killer of our children.

Therefore, I rise in support of H.R. 3381, the Childhood Cancer STAR Act, because it will address four major concerns facing the pediatric cancer community: survivorship, treatment, access, and research. I introduced this bill with my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, Chris Van Hollen of Maryland and Ms. Jackie Speier of California, to be the most comprehensive childhood cancer bill ever considered before this House.

I cofounded, as I said, the Congressional Childhood Cancer Caucus 7 years ago as a platform to give children a voice, children who don't have lobbyists, children who are dying, who have been impacted by this life-altering diagnosis.

To better fight childhood cancer, we must know more about it, and that is what the STAR Act does. It authorizes NIH to expand their efforts to collect data on childhood cancer so we can better understand its causes and the effects of treatment. It also builds on previous work from cancer research groups to provide doctors with the resources necessary to identify children who may be at risk for developing cancer, preventing the worst outcomes from becoming a reality.

Finally, we must address the needs of two-thirds of childhood cancer survivors facing serious lifelong medical conditions. Our bill will improve collaboration among providers so doctors are better able to care for survivors as they age.

I am pleased this bill has the strong support of the patient advocacy community. I especially want to thank the St. Baldrick's Foundation for their continued support and help and work on this important bill. Their CEO, Kathleen Ruddy, as well as Kevin Mathis and Danielle Leach, have been relentless advocates of this bill to make a difference in kids' lives. I look forward to working with them in the future as we look to further address the needs of the childhood cancer community.

Mr. Speaker, I close by stating that we are also very excited that the Cures Act bill passed the House of Representatives, a very important bill about curing not just childhood cancer, but all diseases. We urge the Senate to pass that legislation as well. In that bill was the Advancing Hope Act, which will make a difference in the number of drugs that can be developed to cure childhood cancer.

In fact, it reauthorizes a bill that I introduced to the year 2020, a bill that has already produced a childhood cancer drug, the first since the 1980s, to cure neuroblastoma in children. When I went to meet with Rex Ryan at Dell Children's Medical Center in Austin, Texas, in this clinical trial, the idea, Mr. Speaker, that you can actually pass a bill in this Congress and see that tangible result, a bill passed in this great body that transforms into saving the life of a child, is truly a tremendous and extraordinary experience.

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