Illustration: Natalie Peeples/Axios
A group of 77 cancer organizations is calling on Congress to resurrect five bills addressing childhood cancer that were dropped from the CR last month.
Why it matters: The cancer bills are among the prominent bipartisan measures that were eliminated when conservative lawmakers and President-elect Trump objected to the size of the spending agreement last month and it was downsized.
What they're saying: "We are deeply disappointed that Congress left kids with cancer behind in its end-of-year package," reads the joint statement, signed by groups including the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, American Childhood Cancer Organization and CancerFree Kids.
- They add that "children with cancer must be the first order of business" in the new Congress.
What's inside: One closely watched measure would extend FDA priority review vouchers that help incentivize research into rare pediatric diseases.
- Other measures would make it easier for children on Medicaid to get care in other states, authorize clinical trials for combinations of drugs aimed at childhood cancer, and ensure that drugs for rare diseases are studied in children.
- One cancer bill, to reauthorize NIH research funding, did end up passing the Senate by voice vote in the final flurry last month, but the other childhood cancer measures did not make it.
