Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Floor Speech

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Mr. YOUNG of Iowa. Mr. Speaker, I rise today because the month of October is quickly approaching. As you know, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, a time to shed light on a battle many women and men in this Nation have to endure.

According to the American Cancer Society, almost 250,000 new cases of invasive breast cancer will have been diagnosed in the United States among women this year.

Mr. Speaker, this statistic is heartbreaking. There are very few people who have not been affected by this horrific disease. We have already lost too many family members, neighbors, folks in our communities, and friends to the painful fight, the reality that is this disease.

In Congress, we must stand by our brave women and men tirelessly fighting. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to have joined over 270 of my colleagues as a cosponsor of H.R. 1197, the Accelerating the End of Breast Cancer Act. This critical, bipartisan bill would establish a commission to help end breast cancer by 2020.

Through facilitating public-private partnerships, encouraging advancements in promising research, and coordinating research activities, this commission would help to get us closer to a cure and give patients and families hope.

I am here today to honor those who have fought this fight and won, and I am humbled and saddened to remember those who have lost it. Those affected and recovering from breast cancer deserve to know their elected Representatives stand with them.

Actions speak louder than words. It is time to make real progress on the Accelerating the End of Breast Cancer Act and finally get the supporting bill signed into law.

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