Dianne Feinstein

Mrs. FEINSTEIN

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. I would be happy to.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Yes, I will.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. I thank the Chair. Now, if we may turn to something which is of very deep concern. The amendment that I have sent to the desk is on behalf of the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, Senator Leahy; the Senator from Washington, Mrs. Murray; my colleague from California, Senator Boxer; and the two Senators from Nevada, Senators Reid and Bryan. The amendment is an amendment to strike and substitute language. The section we would strike from the bill is section 305, which splits the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on an appropriations bill. Mr. President, this legislation which I am presenting serves as a substitute to a nongermane provision of the fiscal year 1998 appropriations bill for Commerce, State, Justice.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I do not see the Senator from Nevada at the moment. How much time do I have remaining?

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. That is acceptable.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I will reclaim a moment of my time to say this. Let me quote the chief judge: The ninth circuit would have a 50 percent greater caseload per judge than the twelfth circuit. That letter is here. Anyone can see it. I yield the floor and reserve the remainder of my time.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Of course.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. I very much appreciate that, and I take you at your word. However, what this legislation does will be the law if it is accepted by the House.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. I think the distinguished Senator from Arizona knows I greatly respect him, from working together on other issues. I think we work very well together. I want to directly address something that he has said about the fairness of this split, particularly with respect to the size. I say to him, that isn't the issue. The issue is how the judges are split. I say to the Senator, this legislation splits the judges. The way in which it splits the judges is 15 judges for the ninth circuit, and 13 judges for the newly formed twelfth circuit. Now, the caseload means that the ninth circuit court judges have a 50 percent greater caseload per judge than do the twelfth circuit court judges. The Senator and I discussed these kinds of issues a year or so ago. I hope you will recall when we were discussing this in the Judiciary Committee. There is a letter dated July 18 of this year to Senator Reid from Chief Judge Procter Hug. What Judge Hug points out is: Under the bill, the Ninth Circuit is to have 15 judges and the Twelfth Circuit is to have 13 judges. The Ninth Circuit would have a 50% greater caseload per judge than the Twelfth. He goes on and shows the total for California, Nevada, Guam, Northern Marianas, with a total caseload of 5,448. With 15 judges, the caseload per judge--363 cases, then the caseload for Alaska, 204; Arizona, 891; Hawaii, 204; Idaho, 141; Montana, 175; Oregon, 626; Washington, 871, with a total of 3,112. With 13 judges, the caseload per judge--239 cases. That is one of my big objections. One thing I would just bet my life on is, as a product of a study, there will be a fairer distribution of judges.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. I thank the Senator from California for her comments. I thank the Senator for her help, and I think all of us can be very proud if we just await Presidential signature. It is a fine thing.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. I would be happy to.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. That is correct.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. No. No. It allows an optional first-class stamp, up to 25 percent of the cost of a first-class stamp. In other words, it could add 8 cents onto it, on an optional basis. There would still be a 32-cent stamp. Then there would be this breast cancer stamp. All right. The Board of Governors in their deliberation would make a decision of administrative cost and then out of the 8 cents or 4 cents or 6 cents or 2 cents, whatever they decide, those administrative costs would come out of that additional amount.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. It is 25 percent of a first-class stamp which right now is 32 cents.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. I will be very happy to. One of the problems with the 1-cent stamp is the uncertainty of the post office that the administrative costs will be fully covered by the additional 1 cent. The legislation which passed the House, authored by Susan Molinari and Dick Fazio, on suspension, essentially provides that it can be up to 25 percent --that would be about 8 cents, determined by the Board of Governors--so that the full cost of administering it is covered. The Board of Governors within a short period of time will set the actual amount, whether it is 1 cent, 2 cents, 3 cents or 4 cents, and I actually feel is a much better way of doing it. I think it will end up producing more money. I think it will give the post office fewer ulcers. I think it will be carried out forthwith. This has passed the House, and with the passage here today we can get the show underway. The Board of Governors must, within 1 year of the enactment of the bill, issue the stamp.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I am proud to support the breast cancer research stamp bill, H.R. 1585, sponsored by Congresswoman Susan Molinari and approved in the House of Representatives yesterday on a vote of 422 to 3. I, along with Senators D'Amato, Faircloth, and the original 51 cosponsors of my bill, the breast cancer research stamp Act (S. 726), have worked very hard to give life to this innovative breast cancer research stamp idea, which originated with a physician--Dr. Bodai from my State, and I am happy to see it become a reality today. At a time when the National Cancer Institute can only fund 26 percent of applications, a drop from 60 percent in the 1970's, this legislation creates an innovative way for citizens to contribute to breast cancer research. Under this bill: Postal Service would establish a special rate of postage for first- class mail, not to exceed 25 percent of the first-class rate, as an alternative to the regular first-class postage. The additional sum would be contributed to breast cancer research. The rate would be determined in part, by the Postal Service to cover administrative costs and the remainder by the Governors of the Postal Service. Seventy percent of the funds raised would fund breast cancer research at NIH and 30 percent of the funds raised would go to breast cancer research at DOD. The Postal Service would provide the stamp within a year from the date of enactment. Within 3 months prior to the stamp's 2-year anniversary, the bill requires the Comptroller General to evaluate the effectiveness and the appropriateness of this method of fund raising and report its findings to Congress. The breast cancer Toll There are 1.8 million women in America today with breast cancer. Another 1 million women do not know they have it; 180,200 new invasive cases will be diagnosed this year. Breast cancer kills 46,000 women a year. It is the leading cause of death for women ages 35 to 52 and the second leading cause of cancer death in all women, claiming a woman's life every 12 minutes in this country. For California, 20,230 women were diagnosed with breast cancer and 5,000 women will die from the disease. (Source: American Cancer Society--cancer facts and figures 1996.) The San Francisco Bay area has one of the highest rates of breast cancer incidence and mortality in the world. According to the Northern California Cancer Center, bay area white women have the highest reported breast cancer rate in the world, 104 per 100,000 population. Bay area African-American women have the fourth highest reported rate in the world at 82 per 100,000. In addition to the cost of women's lives, the annual cost of treatment of breast cancer in the United States is approximately $10 billion. The incidence of breast cancer is increasing. In the 1950's, 1 in 20 women developed breast cancer. Today, it is one in eight and growing. While we know there is a genetic link to some breast cancers, we do not understand the fundamental cause. In hearings I held as cochair of the Senate Cancer Coalition, we learned that environmental factors may lead to as much as 90 percent of breast cancer. We know that breast cancer rates vary between countries and when people migrate, they tend to acquire cancer rates closer to those of newly adopted countries within a generation. Over the last 25 years, the National Institutes of Health has spent over $31.5 billion on cancer research--$2 billion of that on breast cancer. In the last 6 years alone, appropriations for breast cancer research have risen from $90 million in 1990 to $600 million today. And the United States is privileged to have some of the most talented scientists and many of the leading cancer research centers in the world such as UCLA, UC San Francisco, Memorial Sloan-Kettering, the Dana Farber Institute, and M.D. Anderson. But researchers need funding. Science needs nourishment. Without it, promising avenues of scientific discovery go unexplored. Questions go unanswered. Cures go undiscovered. Citizen Contributions The breast cancer research stamp bill allows anyone who chooses to, to conveniently contribute to Federal research and to finding a cure for the breast cancer epidemic. It is an innovative idea originating with an American citizen and I am very grateful for the support of the House yesterday. I urge my colleagues to support this important legislation.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, as long as the Chair will recognize the Senator from California following the handling of this measure.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. The amendment we are to be on is a Commerce, State, Justice amendment that I have sent to the desk involving the ninth circuit split. But before we start that, it is my understanding the bill has passed on the breast cancer stamp, and I would be very happy to discuss it.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. I certainly will.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I also want to thank the Senator from New York for his help on this matter. We have had a true bipartisan effort with Ms. Molinari and Mr. Fazio in the House and Senators D'Amato, Faircloth and Feinstein in the Senate. This bill passed the House on suspension. I believe it is an excellent bill. I think it will get the job done in a way in which we can all be proud. The bill is slightly different than the bill that we introduced as an amendment on the fiscal year 1998 Treasury-Postal appropriations bill last week. This bill provides for up to 25 percent of the cost of a first-class stamp to be attached, the extra amount added to be used for breast cancer research. Of the amount of funds raised, 75 percent would go to the NIH, and the remainder to DOD. It is something that is widely supported by virtually every medical and cancer association in the United States. Let me say one thing. Breast cancer is the No. 1 killer for women between the ages of 35 and 52 in this Nation today. It used to be 1 out of 20 women. Today it is one out of every eight women in the United States will come down with breast cancer. It is extraordinarily serious. This is a unique public/private partnership, the first time it has been tried, a pilot, if you will. I know it has been hotlined. I am grateful for the results. I thank the Senator from New York so very much for his work and support and the pink ribbon he is wearing on his lapel, and I believe the women of America, all of us, also thank every Member of this body.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I believe the Senator from New York has a question. I yield to him for a moment.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I send an amendment to the desk.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. I yield the floor, Mr. President, to the Senator from Maryland. Mr. SARBANES addressed the Chair.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I ask that the pending amendment be set aside.