A bipartisan group of senators is trying again to fund research for ending breast cancer in five years, the latest bipartisan health legislation to be bandied about in Congress.
The six senators, led by Sens. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., reintroduced legislation Tuesday that creates a commission for funding research and collaboration to eradicate breast cancer, which killed nearly 3 million women in 2011.
“We need an all-hands-on-deck approach that brings experts together with the goal of making a breakthrough for a cure,” Grassley said.
The commission would identify promising research and encourage partnerships between the public and private sectors. It has three years to show progress or it will be disbanded, according to the legislation.
The senators, who also include Republicans Susan Collins of Maine and Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia and Democrats Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, hope to have better success this go around after the bill died in the last session of Congress.
Despite partisan acrimony on numerous topics, both parties have reported headway on several health initiatives. The House Energy and Commerce Committee is pursuing a large initiative called “21st Century Cures” that will spearhead more research and development of all kinds of new pharmaceuticals.
Both House and Senate leaders are still pursuing bipartisan efforts to kill a flawed formula for Medicare doctor payments and reauthorize a children’s insurance program. It is not known whether the commission could be rolled in to either initiative.
