The Senate will close the summer session with more funding for old gas-guzzling cars and some ag issues  - and a historic Supreme Court nomination.

Health care reform still sits on the burners.  They're still gathering the ingredients for the Senate version, but Speaker Pelosi was able to force some hash through the House.  Whether you agree or disagree with health care reform, if we're going to have to eat it, it should look more like Sunday's roast beef, not Monday's roast beef hash.

Anyway, HCR still does not include provisions to answer our call for greater attention to men's health issues and prostate cancer.  We are getting some sympathy though and one concession that we've begun to see is that ears are starting to perk up at the mention of an Office of Men's Health.  There is a great deal of confusion of what is and is not covered in both the House and the Senate, and that will only make our job to secure provisions for prostate cancer early detection and care even more difficult.

On the appropriations front, the House has passed all of the bills.  At the end of the week, the Senate will have passed all of the bills except Defense.  NIH will see significant increases and their estimates show significant increases for prostate cancer research.  The House bill has level funded all of the programs in the CDMRP, so if we are to see an increase in research funding at DOD, it will have to be done through the Senate.

As of now, it appears that all of the appropriations bills are on schedule to complete work before the end of the fiscal year (September 30).  The bills have been helped by the focus on health care reform and the soon to be new Supreme Court Justice.

Finally - about this time of year we are working with the Senate and the White House on a resolution and a proclomation for Prostate Cancer Awareness Month.  The resolution (although I have not received updated language yet) is on track - we've met with the Senators involved and they are on board to pass the resolution in September.

The proclomation remains to be determined.  Unfortunately, the White House has not (a probably will not) re-established the Office of Proclomations.  Instead all such requests are directed to the Greetings Desk which also receives many other types of requests for the President, Vice-President, the First Lady and other important White House staff and officials.  This means that they get thousands of requests DAILY - and are not helpful on the phone either.  So it remains to be seen whether an Presidential proclomation will be issued this year, but my hopes are not high for that to happen.

Congress returns to work on September 8 and we here at ZERO have a busy couple of months in front of us.  I hope you are joining us for some of the activities that are going on between now and the end of September.

July is approaching (and fast!) which means that the dog days are here - and I'm not talking about the weather.

Appropriations has a full slate of activity scheduled for now through the end of July.  The House is scheduled to take on LHHS and Defense the last half of the month before the August break.  Both bills are important as they provide almost $400 million in research funding for prostate cancer.  The Senate (which is staying in session an extra week to Aug. 10) should be able to finish their work on those bills as well.

Obviously, our attention is divided this summer as health care reform starts to build up steam.  There are many challenges ahead.  Our primary focus is to make sure that men are armed with information and can get the care they need.

Among the hot topics for debate will be universal health care (and all of the little tangents that go with it).  One thing that is of primary concern to us is the fact that irregardless of who is paying for what or how men are covered - it will be of little comfort under the current policies of our federal government as set by the US Preventative Services Task Force which does not recommend screening for prostate cancer.

Government plays a large role in the information that is distributed about many diseases from research (NIH) to prevention and control (CDC) to treatments and drugs (FDA).  Recommendations like those from the USPSTF are detrimental to outreach and awareness, and a disservice to all men - but especially those men who are at highest risk for prostate cancer.

If we cannot reach those men (the ones at highest risk for prostate cancer), then mortality rates will not continue on their current declining track.

These issues are not the only ones we are watching, but unless we start taking action and standing up for ourselves, we will be lost in the shuffle of health care reform.

The 2009 Summit to End Prostate Cancer is scheduled for September 23-24 at The Liaison Capitol Hill Hotel in Washington, DC.  I know - it seems like it is far off in the future, but it's closer than you might think and as of now, there is still some space left in our room block.

Early registration for the Summit will end in two weeks (June 19) and registration all registrations must be in by August 21 for anyone seeking to take advantage of the room block at The Liaison Hotel.

Our topics this year will focus on building grassroot networks and we will discuss activating those networks to accomplish the goals that we set for policy, awareness and outreach.

The Summit is open to anyone interested in being an active advocate on behalf of prostate cancer patients, survivors and families.

Please visit the website below for more information and to download the registration form.  I hope you will join us in DC in September.

Summit to End Prostate Cancer Website

By my calculation, there are 24 "working" days before they adjourn for the August work period and the agenda is packed with health care reform, energy legislation, supplemental and regular spending legislation, and in case you haven't heard - a Supreme Court nomination.

Health care reform is said to be on track for floor action in July.  The outline that President Obama has introduced appears to garner more agreement than disagreement, but the while the number of categories of disagreement may be low, the CONTENT of that disagreement may be challenging for both sides.

For instance, we know that raising taxes will be contentious and there is very little bi-partisan support for government-run insurance.  There are at least 6 different GOP versions of health care reform from various caucuses between the House and the Senate.  While this does not mean that each one will get it time on the floor, it does mean that there are a number of issues and ideas that Members are prepared to introduce and discuss before the final bill is passed in the House or Senate - and then they will have to negotiate an agreement between the House and Senate.  Go ahead and strap in because it's going to get bumpy.

House and Senate leaders will also be working to finish a supplemental appropriations bill before turning to the FY2010 appropriations cycle.  There are rumors of a potential markup in the House later this week.

The energy package has nothing to do with prostate cancer or health care, but is an important bill that has been in the works for a couple of years.

Now - if they actually put in 5-day work weeks, there could be as many as 39 legislative days before the August Break - but realistically, most work is done between Tuesday and Thursday.  Who knows - maybe they'll work Friday's too.

I'M BACK!  I apologize (again) for my absence - I'm sure the 2 or 3 of you who read my blog have missed me.  I promise I will try to do better.

Congress keeps rolling down the highway and while there doesn't seem to be much traffic, they are moving about 20 mph under the speed limit.  This summer will see things change however and we're all expecting a flurry of activity and important debates and hearings.

Health care reform will most likely take the spotlight and watching that take shape is of keen interest to us as I'm sure it is to everyone else.  The big question (yes, it's loaded) is how do we - that's the BIG 'WE'; the prostate cancer community - protect our interests in a debate that will be much bigger than our cause?

Keep in mind that cancer is only one of the topics that they will address and that prostate cancer is only a portion of that.  We are already fighting a PR battle for attention among other more highly visible cancers and a new fuel to a old argument recommending me against early detection.

People are throwing around terms like 'comparative effectiveness' and 'least costly alternative' and we're all supposed to know what they mean.  Certainly, prostate cancer will be effected by all of these things, but the only way we will be able to play a key role in these debates is by partnering with other organizations that are of like-mind and engaging our elected officials at home.

I know some folks are very interested and engaged on these issues and others that surround the health care debate - I will try to address each of them in future posts individually.

Moving on...the appropriations process will also become more visible in the coming weeks.  Markups are expected to begin next week (after the Memorial Day Recess - I know they call them 'Work Periods' now, but they will always be recess to me).  Of course the two biggies for us are Labor-HHS-Ed and Defense.  I've not heard a schedule yet, so I don't know - but I would expect at least one of them to go the 2nd or 3rd week of June.

Keep in mind that this is only the beginning - none of these bills will complete its legislative journey until mid-September AT THE EARLIEST.

Another bill that we are waiting on is the Thomas J. Manton Early Detection and Treatment Act.  It has been stalled because they are experiencing difficulties in adding the NY House delegation to the bill as original co-sponsors.  This is very important to Rep. Marshall who is the sponsor of this bill.

If you have not heard about this year's Summit in DC, please be sure to mark it on your calendar.  We have already secured a room in the Capitol Visitor's Center for Thursday and we're very much looking forward to having an energetic group of advocates here with us this year.  The Summit is scheduled for September 23-24 and we have blocked a number of rooms at The Liaison Capitol Hill Hotel.

I look forward to hearing from anyone with comments about this post or questions about our Summit.

-- Kevin

There is no update yet on the Senate Dear Colleague, but I hope to have that soon as well.

In other news:

We've had some very good meetings recently including with Alabama freshman Congressman Parker Griffith (5th district) who is an oncologist and was very excited to hear about the work we are doing.

We are currently working with Sen. Schumer (NY) and Rep. Marshall (GA08) to bring the NY delegation on-board as original co-sponsors of the Thomas J. Manton Prostate Cancer Early Detection and Treatment Act.  Once that happens, the bill will be introduced.  There may be a press conference arranged to announce the bill.

The PRIME Act has also been discussed recently, but an exact date for introduction has not been made clear.

I am not aware of any other legislation either pending or introduced.

If you are interested in knowing more about any of these please feel free to contact me, or if you have information about other relevant legislation, please let me know so I can start looking for it.

Thus we must make sure that our efforts to increase prostate cancer research at DOD do not waiver.  I am still awaiting word from our lead offices in the Senate and House that the letter has been drafted, but this should not dissuade you from contacting your Representative and Senators today.  You can help us today by visiting our joint website at www.fundresearchnow.org.

Other things that are coming down the pipe: