Date: 2015-07-14
Speaker: CAROLYN B. MALONEY (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: New York

Mr. Speaker. I thank my good friend and colleague from the great State of California for yielding me the time and for her leadership in so many important areas before this body. Mr. Speaker. I am very. very proud to rise today to urge the passage of H.R. 2722. the Breast Cancer Awareness Commemorative Coin Act. a bill that I authored with my good friend and colleague. Congressman PETE SESSIONS from Texas. I also want to add my thanks to Chairman HENSARLING. Ranking Member MAXINE WATERS of the Financial Services Committee. and the House leadership for bringing this bill so quickly to the floor. And a very special thankyou to my partner in this effort. Congressman SESSIONS. who has worked with great commitment and. I would say. creativity in bringing this bill forward and has selflessly worked to have it passed in this body. With his leadership. we were able to secure over 307 cosponsors supporting the passage of this bill in writing. What we are doing together with this bill is we are going to save American lives. I am absolutely delighted that Senator HEIDI HEITKAMP from North Dakota. who is. herself. a breast cancer survivor. has pledged to put 100 percent of her effort to making sure that the passage of this bill happens in the United States Senate. In the United States. over 200.000 new cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed this year. and more than 40.000 women will die. Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in women. and over 2.000 men will be diagnosed. Many people think that it is a womans disease. but there will be. on average. over 400 men a year who will die from breast cancer. There is only one thing. and one thing only. that can possibly save these lives. and that is research. The Breast Cancer Commemorative Coin Act will create the opportunity to raise millions of dollars for badly needed breast cancer research without spending one taxpayer dime. Money buys research. and research saves lives. Make no mistake. there have been significant advances in medical research and better detection efforts over the years. But 40.000 women are still dying every year. and so much more needs to be done. I suspect that absolutely everyone in this body and everyone who is listening who hears my voice today knows someone that they love. some woman they admire. some family member that they care for who has been touched by the shadow of breast cancer. Through this bill. we offer them hope. Our bill directs the U.S. Mint to create up to 50.000 $5 gold coins. 400.000 silver dollars. and 750.000 clad commemorative coins and make them available for purchase by the public throughout 2018 so that the American public can be involved with their dollars themselves making a decision to support breast cancer research. These coins will feature designs submitted and judged through a national art competition that will symbolize the fight against this terrible disease. The gold coin will be unique. made out of the beautiful. highlyprized pink gold to reflect the pink ribbon. an international symbol of breast cancer awareness. Like the ribbon. we hope that Americans across this Nation will be wearing the pink gold coin. Actually. Mr. Speaker. there has never been a pink gold commemorative coin made like this in U.S. history. This will be another congressional first. This bill is a creative way to raise awareness about breast cancer entirely from private funds for critically needed research that is necessary to find a cure. The proceeds will be split between two outstanding organizations: the Breast Cancer Research Foundation and Susan G. Komen. Over the years. the Breast Cancer Research Foundation and Komen each have raised hundreds of millions of dollars for breast cancer research across this Nation. I am privileged to represent the Breast Cancer Research Foundation and appreciate the constant support and effort from its founder. Evelyn Lauder. who has passed but created this wonderful organization. and Myra Biblowit. president of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. The Research Foundation has been responsible for many of the cures that have come forward and breakthroughs. There are 3.1 million Americans alive today because of cures that have been financed by the Breast Cancer Research Foundation and Komen. Both organizations have low administrative cost rates so that the majority of every dollar received goes directly to research. For instance. for every dollar donated to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. 91 cents goes directly to research. and that is incredibly important. The bill requires that every dollar generated through the coin program must also be matched by private fundraising dollars that are raised by these two organizations. The coin program has the potential to raise millions of dollars to save livesand at absolutely no cost to the American taxpayer. It can raise as much as $8 million. The money will buy research. and the research will save lives. When so many lives are on the line. every dollar counts. every dollar matters. I thank my colleagues. particularly my partner in this effort. Congressman SESSIONS. for their support. and I urge their continued bipartisan support in passing the Breast Cancer Commemorative Coin Act.