Campaign 2012

Tester & Rehberg go head to head on cancer funding

Posted: Jul 24, 2012 7:15 AM by Marnee Banks - MTN News
Updated: Jul 24, 2012 8:00 AM

Cancer funding has become a topic of debate between U.S. Representative Denny Rehberg (R-MT) and U.S. Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) in their bid for U.S. Senate.

Tester's campaign is airing a television attack ad against Rehberg which features cancer survivor Lisa Jones.

"It's been nearly a year since they found the cancer. So it's very personal to me that Congressman Dennis Rehberg voted to eliminate funding for breast cancer screenings," Jones says in the ad.

The ad refers to Rehberg's vote last year on House Resolution 1, a budget bill which eliminated Title X funding. The U.S Department of Health and Human Services reports Title X funding provides preventative health care services including breast and cervical cancer screenings.

Women for Tester Chair Holly Kaleczyc says, "Congressman Rehberg consistently tries to eliminate an entire program that provides life-saving cancer screenings and other basic health services to 25,000 Montana women every year."

Tester's campaign is accusing Rehberg of using his 2013 subcommittee's budget to once again cut cancer funding.

A recent press release says, "Rehberg's plan would cut $787 million from the Centers for Disease Control, including $389 million from the account that funds the Center's successful National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection program and zeroing-out the Prevention and Public Health Fund."

However, budget documents show Rehberg is actually proposing to increase funding for the CDC's cancer program.

Montanans for Rehberg Campaign Manager Erik Iverson says, "Tester voted for cancer funding levels that were lower than what Congressman Rehberg voted for. That's a fact."

Iverson is referencing a vote Tester cast on the Senate Appropriations Committee which funded the CDC cancer program at $13 million less than Rehberg's most recent proposal.

Iverson says Rehberg takes cancer funding very seriously because his own mother is a cancer survivor.