It only took six years
By Will Collette
Just before Congress recessed for its Christmas
break, it passed the final version of the defense authorization bill, which
contained within it the Recalcitrant
Cancer Research Act.
RI Senator Sheldon Whitehouse sponsored the Senate
version of the bill, which provides funding and new protocols for dealing with
the types of cancers that are almost always a death sentence, such as
pancreatic cancer.
It took six years and serves as a case study for the
general dysfunction of Congress and how difficult it is to pass a free-standing
bill, no matter how meritorious.
Only by tucking the bill into one that even the
craziest right-wing Republicans would vote to approve could this measure be
passed, and Defense spending was just the ticket.
Whitehouse lost his own mother to pancreatic
cancer.
Aside from the potential future benefits to
cancer sufferers in our community, Charlestown residents should consider what
it took to get this bill passed the next time they read alarm bulletins from
the Charlestown Citizens Alliance about the so-called Carcieri Fix legislation.
This is Senate Bill 676, a free-standing bill
that would reverse the 2009 US Supreme Court decision, Carcieri v. Salazar.
That court decision started with a lawsuit by Charlestown against the US
Interior Department to block the placement of 32 acres of tribal land into
federal trust so the tribe could build senior citizens’ housing.
S. 676 died when the besotted 113th Congress adjourned. The bill's sponsor, Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii) has retired.
S. 676 died when the besotted 113th Congress adjourned. The bill's sponsor, Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii) has retired.
The CCA has put out repeated alarms that a
Carcieri fix would automatically mean the Narragansetts would start building a
casino in Charlestown, since in CCA’s view, any actions by the tribe are simply
stalking horses for a casino.
In addition to being totally illogical, if not
total b.s., the CCA’s alarms never mention how incredibly hard it is to get anything through Congress. The
Recalcitrant Cancer Research Act is a great case in point.