Stop Crippling Cuts to Cancer Research at NCI, Save Lives, Future Research

Today I take pen in hand to write and urge you to oppose the FY26 crippling cuts to the National Cancer Institute’s budget. The administration's reckless and irresponsible cuts to the National Cancer Institute's budget threaten to derail decades of lifesaving progress against cancer. The NIH’s so-called leaders neither know or understand what they are doing. Nearly 2 million Americans are diagnosed with cancer each year, and the disease remains the second leading cause of death. Cancer research saves lives and alleviates suffering - support for this vital work should be strengthened, not diminished. I urge you to reject proposed cuts to the NCI budget and instead increase funding to accelerate the development of better ways to combat this deadly I understand that because of NCI's pioneering research, mortality rates have fallen by a third since the 1990s. I know personal cases where their life was extended or saved owing to new cures and treatments. Slashing NCI's funding by 40% would force the institute to suspend new grants and severely cut existing ones, closing whole labs and halting clinical trials. Research hospitals rely on the work of these researchers, as do the cancer hospitals and children’s cancer hospitals that we see advertise on TV. What are they going to do? Private industry is based on profit, not obscure forms of cancers. This assault on science will cost lives by undermining critical research into better treatments and potential cures at cancer hospitals, children’s hospitals, and many more. Cancer touches every community, and continued robust funding for NCI is vital to reduce suffering and save lives across America. I urge you to reject these reckless cuts and instead increase NCl's budget to keep us in the fight. Thank you for your attention to this matter.