AUSTIN, Texas – May 8, 2008 – Today, national cancer advocate Lance Armstrong, founder and chairman of the Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF), testified on Capitol Hill at the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee hearing Cancer: Challenges and Opportunities in the 21st Century. Led by Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA), Chairman of the HELP Committee, the hearing focused on the nation's approach to the war on cancer and the need to inject new resources and strategies to fighting the leading killer of Americans under the age of 85.

A two-term member of the President's Cancer Panel, Armstrong urged Congress to make cancer a national priority by increasing research funding and making health care more accessible and affordable for all Americans.

Armstrong was joined on the witness panel by:

Edward J. Benz, Jr., M.D., President and CEO, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA
Steve Case, Co-Founder of America Online and Chairman of the Case Foundation, Washington, D.C.
Elizabeth Edwards, J.D., Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress, Washington, D.C.
Hala Moddelmog, M.A., CEO, Susan G. Komen Foundation, Dallas, TX
Greg Simon, J.D., President, Faster Cures, Washington, D.C.

The hearing, held in 216 Hart Senate Office Building, was attended by cancer survivors, advocates and elected officials, including Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) who is working with Senator Kennedy on this bipartisan legislation.

To read Armstrong's written testimony, visit www.livestrongblog.org