House Panel Votes to Extend Breast Cancer Stamp, Honor Gold Star Mothers

On September 20, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee approved, by voice vote, several measures en bloc, including a bill to reauthorize the breast cancer postage stamp (H.R. 1236) and a resolution honoring mothers of servicemembers killed in combat (H. Res. 605).

Breast Cancer Postage Stamp

Sponsored by Rep. William Lacy Clay (D-MO), H.R. 1236 would have permanently authorized the first-class postage stamp, first introduced in 1998. However, the Government Reform Federal Workforce, Postal Service, and the District of Columbia Subcommittee, which passed the measure by voice vote on September 18, approved a substitute amendment by Rep. Clay that would extend for four years the authorization of the postage stamp and require the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Defense to report annually on the funds raised by the sale of the stamps.

The current authorization (P.L. 109-100) is set to expire on December 31, 2007. On August 1, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee approved a similar measure that would extend the sale of the postage stamps for two years (see The Source, 8/3/07).

Gold Star Mothers

Sponsored by Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL), H. Res. 605 supports the goals and ideals of Gold Star Mothers Day and contains a number of findings, including:

the American Gold Star Mothers have suffered the supreme sacrifice of motherhood by losing a son or daughter who served in the armed forces, and thus perpetuate the memory of all whose lives are sacrificed in war;
the American Gold Star Mothers assist veterans of the armed forces and their dependents in the presentation of claims to the Department of Veterans Affairs and aid members of the armed forces who served and died or were wounded or incapacitated during hostilities; and
the services rendered to the United States by the mothers of America have strengthened and inspired Americans throughout the history of the United States.