Recently, Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer voted in support of a resolution to restore government health care-related funding. In a letter to the Pasadena Star-News, City of Hope President and Chief Executive Officer Michael A. Friedman, M.D., applauded the senators’ actions, citing the great need for biomedical advances. The full text of the letter, published April 5, appears here. — Editor

On behalf of the patients and more than 3,000 employees at City of Hope Cancer Center, I would like to thank Sens.

Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer for their leadership in voting to restore $7 billion in the FY-2007 Senate budget resolution for priority health and educational programs.

Cures cannot come soon enough for patients and families facing life-threatening diseases.

Our California senators sent a message to the administration that investment in biomedical innovation and discovery saves lives. The president’s FY-2007 budget request cut National Cancer Institute (NCI) funding, which would impede the momentum of progress against cancer under way at comprehensive cancer centers like City of Hope.

It is because of federal funding in basic science, treatment and screening that today there are nearly 10 million Americans who are cancer survivors.

The $7 billion provides funding to sustain research, education and patient care activities at medical schools and teaching hospitals.

Now more than ever, the nation must confront complex health challenges that range from an aging and increasingly diverse population to the threat of new and re-emerging diseases. City of Hope applauds Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer for putting health care first for California.