An increased awareness of the steps necessary to defeat breast cancer, including mammography screenings, has led to early detection and higher survival rates.

However, we still have a long way to go. This year nearly 40,000 women will die of breast cancer, and over 211,000 new cases will be diagnosed.

Unfortunately, many of these cases will be diagnosed, and deaths will occur, in communities where access to advanced medicine is limited.

Congress's commitment to increasing the funding for cancer prevention and early detection is helping us battle this disease. Today we can be proud of the advancements we have made. But we must continue our commitment to defeating breast cancer by raising the public's awareness, expanding health care screenings to include all women, and continuing to fund the research necessary to fight this disease.