Reps. Juan Ciscomani (R-Ariz.) and Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.) said funding cancer research and screening is a bipartisan issue and urged Congress to make those services more accessible to veterans.
The lawmakers spoke at a Punchbowl News event Thursday, where they also divulged how they planned to vote on the Iran war powers resolution.
Iran war. Ciscomani said President Donald Trump made the right decision to strike Iran. Ciscomani said he would vote against the resolution that would curb Trump’s power.
“The world is a safer place with what happened over the weekend in Iran, and there’s more work to do,” Ciscomani said.
Unsurprisingly, Auchincloss said he would vote for the resolution, adding that Trump has “no authority to start this war and no plan to end it.”
Cancer screenings. Both lawmakers advocated for more money to go toward cancer research, Alzheimer’s disease, women’s health and veterans’ access to care.
“We need to continue to invest in this,” Ciscomani said. “We’ve made some good headway on it, but there’s more to do.”
Auchincloss chimed in, saying there’s good momentum on research and screening in Congress, but added that lawmakers have work to do on supporting the development of medicines. Auchincloss added that both parties have enacted policies that make it harder to bring medicines to the market.
“If you’re going to be anti-disease, you also have to be pro-medicine,” Auchincloss said.
Fireside chat. Kevin Conroy, chair and CEO of Exact Sciences, urged Congress to provide veterans with more access to tests to detect colon cancer.
“There are 1.6 million veterans today that are overdue for colon cancer screening,” Conroy said. “It’s maddening, and hopefully Congress can really push the VA system to change this.”
Conroy said science is at a golden era of being able to diagnose cancer earlier and said science gives him the most hope for the future.
“If you combine earlier detection with advances in treatment, you could really make cancer a disease that becomes smaller and smaller in terms of impact,” Conroy said.
You can watch the full recording here.
