Introduction of the Resolution Expressing Support for the Designation of the Month of November 2020 As ``Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month''

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Mr. CARSON of Indiana. Madam Speaker, I am pleased to introduce a resolution today with my colleague from California and Chairwoman of the Health Subcommittee of the Energy and Commerce Committee, Congresswoman Anna Eshoo. Our resolution raises awareness about pancreatic cancer and the importance of increased Congressional funding for research by expressing support for the designation of the month of November 2020 as Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month. I am also pleased that our colleague in the Senate, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, has introduced a Senate companion to this resolution. I am grateful for Congresswoman Eshoo and Senator Whitehouse's leadership in helping to combat pancreatic cancer.

This year alone, pancreatic cancer has killed two American icons: our colleague Congressman John Lewis and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Pancreatic cancer recently killed baseball legend Bob Gibson, and it continues to sicken thousands of Americans fighting every day to survive this disease. This includes our colleague, Congressman Alcee Hastings, who is currently fighting a courageous battle against this horrible cancer. Accurately described as a silent killer, this disease does not have an early detection test, so unfortunately, by year's end, pancreatic cancer will have killed an estimated 47,050 Americans and is the third largest cause of cancer-related death in our county. As COVID-19 continues to rob us of more than 222,000 of our fellow Americans, pancreatic cancer continues to devastate thousands of American families and communities. In my home state of Indiana, nearly 1,000 Hoosiers will be killed by pancreatic cancer by year's end, and almost 2,000 Hoosiers will be newly diagnosed with this terrible disease. Nationwide, an additional 57,600 Americans will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer this year.

These horrific statistics highlight how few tools exist to detect this disease and, as a result, the immense pain and suffering it causes. Alarmingly, pancreatic cancer still has no early detection test to quickly and accurately determine the presence of this cancer. As a result, it is very difficult to detect this cancer before it has advanced to later--and more deadly--stages. Tragically, sixty-six percent of pancreatic cancer patients live less than one year following their diagnosis, This was the case for our colleague Congressman John Lewis, who was killed by pancreatic cancer less than a year following his diagnosis.

The COVID-19 pandemic has also highlighted how longstanding health disparities and lack of access to care results in dispropottionate numbers of infections and deaths from this virus in communities of color. Sadly, the same is true with pancreatic cancer. The incidence rate for pancreatic cancer among Black Americans is twenty percent higher than that of any other racial demographic and the death rate is seventeen percent higher for Black men than for white men. In this way, the lack of pancreatic cancer early detection research accelerates the racial inequities in our health care system, with devastating consequences for minorities.

To help detect pancreatic cancer earlier and to help address racial inequities, the 116th Congress has a unique opportunity to make historic investments in pancreatic cancer research at the Department of Defense (DoD). Congress can do this by enacting the $15 million in pancreatic cancer research funding--first introduced through my amendment with Congresswoman Eshoo--and then passed by the full House. Within this research funding, DoD will include early detection research as a major funding priority to help more patients detect this deadly disease early. In fact, if diagnosed early, the five-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer patients is above 80%. However, our provisions have not yet passed the Senate, and current pancreatic cancer research funding remains at a fraction of the level that our fellow Americans struggling with this disease deserve. That's why it is so critical that we raise awareness about how deadly and destructive this cancer is to our American family, and why increasing pancreatic cancer research is critical to lowering this disease's deadliness.

Moreover, at a time when our country is having a national conversation about the deep disparities in access to health care for Black and Brown people during the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress must do everything within our power to improve health outcomes through research and treatment, and that includes pancreatic cancer. And in order to ensure that we improve outcomes, we need to raise awareness with the American public and our colleagues in Congress about just how deadly this cancer is and why we need to find early detection tools, effective treatments and reduce this disease's disproportionate impact on communities of color.

I urge my colleagues in the House to support this resolution, and I urge my colleagues in the Senate to support our companion resolution introduced by Senator Whitehouse.

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