Senate Committee Approves Extension for Breast Cancer Research Stamp as Part of Transportation Appropriations Bill

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- Stamp will expire on December 31 unless reauthorized by Congress-
September 5, 2003

Washington, DC-- The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee yesterday approved an amendment sponsored by Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) to extend the Breast Cancer Stamp by two years as part of the FY '04 Transportation spending bill. The stamp will expire unless Congress reauthorizes it by December 31, 2003.

"The fact that the appropriations committee voted to reauthorize the Breast Cancer Research Stamp is good news in the fight against breast cancer," Senator Feinstein said. "The Breast Cancer Research Stamp is among the most successful commemorative stamps of all time with 464 million stamps sold. This is second only to the Elvis stamp that had 517 million stamps printed. The stamp program has generated in excess of $34 million for Breast Cancer research. In my view, such an effective, widely-supported program should be allowed to continue."

Since the stamp was put into circulation in 1998, it has raised more than $34 million for breast cancer research. Currently, the stamp sells for 45 cents, with 37 cents to pay for the stamp and 8 cents going for research.

In addition to approving the Feinstein amendment, the committee approved millions of dollars of funding for California transportation projects, including:

New Starts:

$4 million for the Silicon Valley Rapid Transit Corridor (BART to San Jose)

$100 million for BART to SFO

$65 million for the Mission Valley East Light Rail Project

$5 million for the Los Angeles Eastside Transit Extension

$48 million for the Oceanside-Escondido Rail Project

Ongoing Projects

$3 million for the Otay Mesa/State Route 905 project

$4 million for the Sacramento Regional Intelligent Transportation System

$3 million for AC Transit Welfare to Work

$3 million for the Los Angeles MTA Buses

$4 million for the San Francisco MUNI Buses

$2 million for the Municipal Transit Operators Coalition Buses

$1.2 million for the Fresno Area Express (FAX)

$1 million for the Orange County Inter-County Express Bus Service

$1 million for the San Mateo County Zero Emission Bus Demonstration

$1 million for the Sonoma County Transit Bus

$1 million for the Visalia Bus Facility

$2.1 million for the Metro Link San Bernadino Platform Extentions

$1 million for Ways to Work, California

$1 million for SunLine Transit CNG Bus Acquistion

$750,000 for the Palo Alto Intermodal Transit Center

$1 million for Long Beach Transit Bus

$2 million for the Alameda Corridor-East

$1 million for Southern California Association of Governments MAGLEV

$1 million for the Riverside Transit Agency Transit Center

$1 million for Oyster Point Ferry Terminal

$1.5 million for SACOG Sacramento Region

$900,000 for Metrolink Automated Passenger Counting System

"This funding is a critical part of restoring our infrastructure and creating jobs for Californians," Senator Feinstein said. "As anyone who has taken a hard look at our transportation needs can attest, federal funding for highways, transit, aviation, high-speed rail, and ports, among other areas, remains inadequate. This funding will help ensure that our country does not fall behind the rest of the developed world in the quality of our infrastructure."

According to the Department of Transportation, each $1 billion in new infrastructure

investment creates 47,500 new jobs: 26,500 direct jobs for construction workers, engineers, contractors, and other on-site employees, and 21,000 indirect jobs resulting from the spending associated with the investment.

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