{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.warner.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ID=BA4B418B-C0DC-4797-BE27-4C1D363BDB12", "Wexton, Warner, and Kaine Applaud Passage of their Bipartisan Gabriella Miller Kids First Research Act", "2024-12-21", "2024", "2024-12", "Democrat", "Senate", "VA", "Mark R. Warner", "W000805", "www.warner.senate.gov", "warner", "https://www.warner.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 Today, Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton (D-VA-10) and Senators Tim Kaine and Mark R. Warner (both D-VA) celebrated the Senate passage of their bipartisan Gabriella Miller Kids First Research Act 2.0. The bill reauthorizes federal funding for the National Institute of Health\u2019s (NIH) Gabriella Miller Kids First Pediatric Research Program (Kids First), which the senators helped create to support lifesaving research of treatments and cures for childhood cancer since 2015. The bill was included in a draft government funding agreement that was reached earlier this week, but was later torpedoed by Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy, and President-elect Donald Trump.\n\nThe legislation is named in honor of Gabriella Miller, who lived in Virginia\u2019s 10th District and was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor and passed away in 2013 at the age of 10. Her passionate advocacy for lawmakers to \u201cstop talking, start doing\u201d led to the passage of the Gabriella Miller Kids First Research Act and creation of Ten-Year Pediatric Research Initiative Fund in 2014.\n\n\u201cFor as long as I have been serving in Congress, I\u2019ve been fighting to pass the Gabriella Miller Kids First Research Act 2.0 and extend critical funding for childhood cancer research,\u201d said Wexton. \u201cI\u2019m so proud that we\u2019ve finally gotten this lifesaving bill through Congress and on its way to be signed into law. This bipartisan bill will build on the groundbreaking work of the Kids First program and deliver much-needed resources to better understand, treat, and hopefully one day cure childhood cancer. No family should have to face the fear and pain of their child\u2019s cancer diagnosis, and I\u2019m grateful for the partnership of Senator Tim Kaine and the remarkable advocacy of Ellyn Miller and the Miller family in honor of Gabriella and her fight, to build support for this bill.\u201d\n\n\u201cGabriella Miller was a courageous Virginian who gave her all to advocating for those whose lives have been touched by childhood cancer,\u201d said Kaine. \u201cI\u2019m honored to have worked with the Miller Family and Congresswoman Wexton on this bipartisan legislation to reauthorize a crucial pediatric cancer research program that was created in her honor. I\u2019m glad the Senate passed it today and urge President Biden to sign it into law as quickly as possible.\u201d\n\n\u201cBy reauthorizing the research program bearing Gabriella Miller\u2019s name, we are helping to honor her memory, giving hope to families facing devastating diagnoses, and ensuring that future generations have access to the life-saving treatments they deserve,\u201dsaid Warner.\n\nIn 2014, the Gabriella Miller Kids First Research Act, which the senators championed, was signed into law by President Obama, establishing the Ten-Year Pediatric Research Initiative Fund and authorizing $12.6 million in annual funds for childhood disease research through Fiscal Year 2023. Since then, Kids First has taken tremendous steps towards understanding childhood cancer, such as establishing the Gabriella Kids Resource Center\u2014a comprehensive data resource for research and patient communities meant to advance discoveries. The language included in the bill reauthorizes the Kids First program for five years.\n\nCancer continues to kill more children in the United States than any other disease. Over 15,000 children a year are diagnosed with cancer, with that number tragically having gradually risen in recent decades. Pediatric cancers often differ from adults in the type, how they spread, and how it is treated, and many children do not respond well to conventional adult treatments, which frequently cause long term health issues and disabilities even in circumstances where the cancer is successfully cured. Yet while children face special hurdles when it comes to fighting cancer, less than 8% of current government funding for cancer is geared specifically towards developing treatments and cures for childhood cancer and other rare diseases.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:07:19Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.warner.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ID=BA4B418B-C0DC-4797-BE27-4C1D363BDB12"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.1087019704282284, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}