Date: 2015-06-10
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I would like to thank the staff. first. for working with Members and getting Members in order to be able to present their amendments. and then I want to thank the chairman and the ranking member for their understanding of this amendment and. again. make the point that this amendment that I am offering at this time I have been able to work on with the appropriators over the years. I am a breast cancer survivor. and as I. myself. was going through that period. I met women who were experiencing triple negative. which is a very deadly aspect of breast cancer. My amendment increases funding for Defense Health Programs research and development by $10 million. and these funds will address the question of breast cancer in the United States military. Just the fact. to take note of the point. that more than 800 women have been wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan. according to the Army Times. 874 military women were diagnosed with breast cancer just between 2000 and 2001. My amendment will add additional research dealing with this question. And the good news is that. when the military research component works on this. there is a great possibility of moving forward. Breast cancer strikes relatively young military women at an alarming rate. but male servicemembers. veterans. and their dependents are at risk as well. "Military people in general. and in some cases very specifically. are at a significantly greater risk for contracting breast cancer. says Dr. Richard Clapp. a top cancer expert at Boston University. Clapp. who works for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on military breast cancer issues. says life in the military can mean exposure to a witchs brew of risk factors directly linked to greater chances of getting breast cancer." Just a moment about the triplenegative breast cancer. when I saw firsthand a very wonderful professional in my community go very quickly. first at the diagnosis and then the shortterm survival that she experienced. It is a term used to describe breast cancer whose cells do not have estrogen receptors and progesterone receptors and do not have an excess of the HER2 protein on their cell membrane of tumor cells. So what does that mean? TNBC accounts for between 13 and 25 percent of all breast cancer in the United States. It is a higher grade. onset is younger. is more aggressive. and is likely to metastasize. Currently. 70 percent of women with metastatic triplenegative breast cancer do not live more than 5 years after being diagnosed. and it impacts various ethnicities and ethnic groups in a far different way. E] 1845 We find that African American women are more likely to be diagnosed with large tumors. but it impacts women of all backgrounds. racial backgrounds as well. So I ask my colleagues to consider this amendment that I have had the privilege of offering in years past. Might they also take note of the fact that the amendment would not change the overall level of budget authority. and it would lower the overall level of outlays. I ask my colleagues to support the Jackson Lee amendment. I add this article into the RECORD. "A New Drug for Triple Negative Breast Cancers Seems Promising." dated June 5. 2015. Again. the research that the United States military can do under the research development test and evaluation is powerful. There are many women and men in the military and many women throughout the Nation and around the world who would benefit greatly from the additional focus on this very deadly disease. deadly form of breast cancer. Mr. Chair. I want to thank Chairman FRELINGHUYSEN and Ranking Member VisCLOSKY for shepherding this legislation to the floor and for their devotion to the men and women of the Armed Forces who risk their lives to keep our nation safe. Mr. Chair. thank you for the opportunity to explain my amendment. which is identical to an amendment that I offered and was adopted in last years Defense Appropriations Act . My amendment increases funding for the Defense Health Programs research and development by $10 million. These funds will address the question of breast cancer in the United States military. Women in the military have had to fight battles against Triple Negative Breast cancer and far too many of them are losing the battle. My amendment is designed to advance the study of triple negative breast cancer which is an aggressive and deadly type of breast cance r. Currently. 70% of women with metastatic triple negative breast cancer do not live more than five years after being diagnosed. TNBC accounts for between 13% and 25% of all breast cancer in the United States. It is essential to support research to identify multifaceted targeted treatments for this type of breast cancer. TNBC is an extremely deadly form of breast cancer. Unlike traditional forms of breast cancer there are no targeted treatments for TNBC. Additional research is necessary to find the molecular cause for TNBC in order to develop an effective treatment regime. It is only in the last few years that professionals studying breast cancer have concluded that breast cancer is not one disease. but many different forms of cancer all originating in the breast. Triplenegative breast cancer (TNBC) is a term used to describe breast cancers whose cells do not have estrogen receptors and progesterone receptors. and do not have an excess of the HER2 protein on their cell membrane of tumor cells Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC) cells: TNBC accounts for between 13% and 25% of all breast cancer in the United States. usually of a higher grade and size. onset at a younger age. are more aggressive. and are more likely to metastasize. Currently. 70% of women with metastatic triple negative breast cancer do not live more than five years after being diagnosed. African American women are 3 times more likely to develop triplenegative breast cancer than White women. AfricanAmerican women have prevalence TNBC of 26% vs. 16% in nonAfrican Americans women. The survival rate for breast cancer has increased to 90% for White women but only 78% for African American Women. AfricanAmerican women are more likely to be diagnosed with larger tumors and more advanced stages of breast cancer. Currently no targeted treatment for TNBC exists. Breast cancers with specific. targeted treatment methods. such as hormone and gene based strains. have higher survival rates than the triple negative subtype. highlighting the need for a targeted treatment. There continues to be a need for research funding for biomarker selection. drug discovery. and clinical trial designs that will lead to the early detection of TNBC and to the development of multiple targeted therapies to treat this awful disease. Depending on its stage of diagnosis. triple negative breast cancer can be extremely aggressive and more likely to recur and metastasize than other subtypes of breast cancer. It typically is responsive to chemotherapy. although it can be more difficult to treat because it is unresponsive to the most effective receptor targeted treatments. There is no question that researchers are increasingly recognizing the importance of TNBC as an entity and focusing their efforts on several key areas. On June 5. 2015. it was reported that "A New Drug For Triple Negative Breast Cancer Seems PromisingEnzalutamide." Research on effective treatment options for triple negative breast cancer is critically need to improve the survival rates of women who are diagnosed with the disease. We must also improve upon tests that can detect triple negative breast cancer while it is in its early stages. which could increase survival rates. I urge my colleagues to support the Jackson Lee Amendment. [From The Inquisitr. June 7. 2015]