Cantor, Kaine and Warner push pediatric research funding bill

Virginia’s U.S. senators are signing on to an effort to boost pediatric research funding.

Democratic Sens. Timothy M. Kaine and Mark R. Warner will today announce their support for the Gabriella Miller Kids First Research Act, named for a girl from Leesburg who had an inoperable brain tumor and died in October.

The move also marks bicameral, bipartisan cooperation among Virginia’s congressional delegation. In the House of Representatives, Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-7th, championed the measure and has worked to help secure a Senate sponsor since its passage in the House last month, according to his office.

The legislation, which would expand pediatric research with money currently spent on taxpayer financing of presidential elections, passed the House 295-103.

Kaine and Warner’s support gives the legislation a path in the Senate and potentially all the way to President Barack Obama’s desk. Cantor’s office said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, is also on board.

The House legislation sought to save more than $100 million over 10 years from the Presidential Election Campaign Fund and spend more on research of pediatric diseases and disorders at the National Institutes of Health.

“Putting a priority on federal funding for pediatric medical research at the NIH will help overcome childhood cancer, autism and many other diseases impacting our children,” Cantor said in a statement. The House, he said, “chose to put finding cures for our kids before financing political conventions.”

It’s early in the process on the Senate side, as legislation has yet to be introduced. That’s where Kaine and Warner come in.

“The Gabriella Miller Kids First Research Act is an important way to honor the memory of this remarkable young Virginian while recognizing the importance of pediatric disease research,” Kaine said in a statement. “I’m honored to support this effort and look forward to doing all I can to move it forward in the Senate.”

Warner said, “By all accounts, Gabriella Miller was a profile in courage, and I can think of no better way to honor her legacy.”

Gabriella’s brain tumor was the size of a walnut, and as a symbol of the fight against her cancer, her family began smashing walnuts with a frying pan. They have established the Smashing Walnuts Foundation, which focuses on finding a cure for childhood brain cancer.

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