Obama campaign touts plan to combat cancer by doubling research budget

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama plans to boost the fight against cancer by doubling spending on research, campaign officials said Friday. Jill Biden, wife of Obama's running mate, Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, told reporters on a conference call that funding for cancer research has stagnated under the Bush administration and that an Obama administration would increase spending. Overall, funding for the National Cancer Institute went from $4.6 billion in 2003 to $4.8 billion in 2007. Officials said that Obama planned to gradually raise that spending to $10 billion within five years. Democratic Sen. John Kerry, who spoke on behalf of the campaign in a conference call with reporters, said the money for more research would be generated by reforming of federal contracting, cutting congressional spending and doing away with unnecessary federal programs. He did not specify which programs would be considered unnecessary. But he noted that budget surpluses turned to deficits under Bush's tenure. Kerry said that Obama understands the toll cancer takes on families because his mother died of ovarian cancer in her early 50s.