Resident lobbies for cancer bills

Clovis resident George Barber traveled to Washington, D.C., last week to meet with members of Congress to lobby for passage of a group of bills that would provide funding for the early detection of cancer.

The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network is "a nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy affiliate of the American Cancer Society," as stated on cancer.org

The organization (ACS CAN) recently appointed Barber as its vice lead ambassador for District 3, a volunteer position, Barber told The News on Friday.

A cancer survivor himself, Barber first got involved with the "fight" against cancer after he contracted colorectal cancer in 2011, he said. In 2014, he was free of cancer. Then living in South Carolina, he got involved with politics and became a board member for Relay for Life and then an advocate chair.

"That's how I got involved with the Cancer Action Network," he said. "From there, we were able to start the Best Chance Network for the uninsured and underinsured to get mammograms, Pap smears and colonoscopies for free."

In 2019, Barber moved to Clovis to take care of his mother, he said.

"I had an aunt whose mother had colon cancer," he said. "I noticed a lot of people in Clovis have different types of cancer.

"My brother lost his battle with cancer last July – kidney and lung," he said.

"There is not a big support here in New Mexico for cancer patients or even (people who) know about these programs," he said.

Last week he said he went with 550 other volunteers from across the country and Puerto Rico to the 2022 Leadership Summit and Lobby Day event in D.C. The purpose of the trip was to meet with the legislators to "push for these bills and the three asks."

The bills include HR 5030 and S.2706, he said.

As stated on the house.gov website, the purpose of HR 5030 is: "To improve diversity in clinical trials and data collection for COVID–19 and future public health threats to address social determinants of health."

He said this includes efforts to get Native Americans involved in the testing.

Senate bill S.2706, as stated on congress.gov:

"This bill requires activities to increase diversity in clinical trials. It also expands reporting by laboratories that test for and diagnose COVID-19 and requires a study on data collection and data sharing during public health emergencies."

The "three asks" are:

• Ask Congress to support increased funding for cancer research and prevention programs in the amount of $49 billion -- $7.7 billion of which would go to the National Cancer Institute for research, and also for congressional support for $462 million to go to the Centers for Disease Control for research.

• Sponsor house and senate bills, which support diversity in clinical trials.

• Co-sponsor the Medicare Multi-Cancer Early Detection Screening Coverage Act.

The group is also asking "our leadership on the House Ways and Means Committee, the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the Senate Finance Committee to support holding hearings on these bills this year," he said.

While in Washington, Barber met with U.S. Sen. Ben Lujan and Rep. Teresa Fernandez in person and U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich virtually to ask for their support, he said.

"It went very well," Barber said. "They knew about the bills. We asked Lujan and Heinrich to co-sponsor the bills in the Senate and Fernandez to co-author the bills in the House."

"Senator Heinrich is currently a cosponsor of S.1873, the Medicare Multi-Cancer Early Detection Screening Coverage Act," Aaron Morales, press secretary for the senator wrote in an email on Tuesday.

"He is looking into S.2706, the DIVERSE Trials Act, and how it can best support New Mexicans," he wrote.

Morales added Heinrich is extremely supportive of funding for cancer research through the National Institutes of Health (NIH), including for research at the National Cancer Institute.

"Senator Heinrich also introduced the Colorectal Cancer Detection Act, legislation to increase access to blood-based screening tests to allow people to understand if they are at risk of colon cancer before they schedule a more invasive colonoscopy," Morales wrote.

Specifically, the bill would place all Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved blood-based screening tests on equal footing with other screening methods and authorize reimbursement from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

In January 2023, the Cancer Action Network will go to the New Mexico statehouse and ask the legislators to release funds for cancer research and to provide funding for cancer screenings and colonoscopies, he said.

"There is more hope than ever for those diagnosed with cancer and people with cancer are living longer and longer," he said. "It's proven -- testing for early detection saves lives."