AACR CANCER POLICY MONITOR

                                                                                                    OCTOBER 2009

HARKIN ASSUMES LEADERSHIP OF KEY HEALTH COMMITTEE

Senator in position to guide oversight, creation, and funding of health care and research programs

Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa recently assumed the chairmanship of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, the position long held by the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy. The move gives Harkin, who will also continue to lead the Senate Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies (Labor-HHS) Appropriations Subcommittee, significant control over the oversight, creation and funding of health care programs and health research.

Harkin has been a leading voice on issues such as tobacco control and prevention, federal funding of stem cell research, biomedical research funding, and wellness and disease prevention.

As Congress continues to grapple with health care reform, Harkin will work closely with Senator Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), who led the HELP Committee during much of the year in Kennedy's absence, and who will continue to play a leading role as health care legislation moves to the Senate floor.

Read more from the October 2009 Edition of the AACR Cancer Policy Monitor:

• Congress Extends Deadline to Pass FY2010 Spending Bill
• Obama Visits NIH to Tout $5 Billion in Research Grants
• AACR Task Force Weighs in on FDA Regulation of Tobacco Products
• Ban on Flavored Cigarettes Goes Into Effect
• Stimulus Dollars Supporting Cancer Research
  
• NIH Names Panel of Experts to Review Eligibility of Stem Cell Lines for Federal Research
• Researchers Behind Breakthrough Cancer Drug, Gleevec, Honored with Lasker Award

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