Congressman Chris Collins Proud to See Kids First Research Act Signed into Law

Congressman Chris Collins applauded the bipartisan effort that led President Obama to sign the Gabriella Miller Kids First Research Act (H.R. 2019) into law today. 

This legislation, which Congressman Collins was a co-sponsor of in the House, will eliminate federal funding for presidential campaigns and party conventions and reallocate the funding to expand pediatric research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
 
“The Gabriella Miller Kids First Research Act is a bipartisan achievement transcending party politics to place a priority on the health and wellbeing of our nation’s children. As a longtime supporter of this legislation I am proud to see it signed into law and am grateful for the positive impact it will have on children in New York’s 27th Congressional District and across the country,” said Congressman Collins. 
 
“The millions of federal taxpayer dollars we currently spend on these political party activities will go to better use to help the NIH make huge strides in research and clinical trials aimed at curing and preventing juvenile (type 1) diabetes, childhood cancers, autism, and Down Syndrome, to name a few,” continued Congressman Collins.
 
Congressman Collins pushed for passage of the legislation last year alongside several local families impacted by juvenile diabetes.  Collins also encouraged the general public to join the effort by becoming citizen co-sponsors of the bill.
 
This legislation has the support of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), Autism Speaks, the Children’s Hospital Association, the Coalition of Pediatric Medical Research, the National Down Syndrome Society and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, among others.
 
The legislation is named for Gabriella Miller, a girl from Virginia who fought to raise awareness as to the need for pediatric cancer research and who died of brain cancer last year at the age of 10. 

The House passed the Gabriella Miller Kids First Research Act on December 11, 2013 in a 294-103 vote. The Senate passed it on March 11, 2014 with unanimous consent.