Capitol Hill was painted blue on Tuesday as more than 600 advocates from all 50 states and nearly every congressional district met with their members of Congress to urge sustained funding for cancer research and prevention and early detection programs. Volunteers dressed in blue ACS CAN polo shirts participated in meetings with every U.S. senator and nearly 350 members of the House as part of ACS CANÈs annual Leadership Summit and Lobby Day. The day was also documented on Twitter as advocates tweeted about their experiences: neileisen: Ran into Patrick Leahy in the halls! Karen spoke to him about the merits of sun avoidance. #ACSCAN kelseybjones: Did I mention I got to talk with my hero, @SenJohnMcCain today? He pointed right at me and told me I need to wear sunscreen. #ACSCAN cbrown1430: Soft commit from Rep. Artur Davis' office! #ACSCAN SandiCassese: #fightcancer.org Just met with senator Schumer who supports increased funding for cancer prevention, research, education and screening In addition to meeting with lawmakers, advocates participated in a Capitol Hill rally with John R. Seffrin, PhD, CEO of ACS CAN, to stress the importance of funding for cancer research. They were joined by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and a group of NCAA Division I college basketball coaches. The coaches are members of Coaches vs. CancerÎÂ, a nationwide collaboration between the American Cancer Society and the National Association of Basketball Coaches. They included Steve Donahue from Boston College, Seth Greenberg from Virginia Tech, Dave Rose from Brigham Young University, and Bruce Weber from the University of Illinois. [/caption]
After months of delay and hard negotiations, Congress has finally passed a funding bill! The bill includes a small increase for cancer research and prevention programs.