In March 2025, Congress passed a year-long Continuing Resolution (CR) that drastically impacted medical research funding. The resolution redirected 57% of the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program (CDMRP) budget to other areas within the Department of Defense. As a result, the Kidney Cancer Research Program (KCRP) – a vital source of funding for kidney cancer research – received $0 for Fiscal Year 2025. This unprecedented cut means no new federal grants for kidney cancer research this year. Without these funds, lifesaving clinical trials are stalled, research momentum is lost, and promising innovations are delayed – putting the lives of kidney cancer patients at greater risk. KidneyCAN is leading the charge to restore this funding, and your advocacy is urgently needed.
While other cancer types benefit from broader NIH funding, kidney cancer has just one dedicated federal funding stream. Eliminating the KCRP means eliminating the only consistent investment in research designed specifically for this disease.
KCRP grants fuel high-risk, high-reward projects that might otherwise go unfunded. These projects have led to breakthrough therapies, improved outcomes, and longer lives for kidney cancer patients.
When funding dries up, research slows down drastically. Promising trials get delayed, ideas stall in development, and patients lose access to the hope that comes with new options.
Kidney cancer is on the rise, especially among younger adults. We need more answers, not fewer. Stripping funding from this program leaves patients, doctors, and researchers without the tools they need to fight back.
Click this link below to find out who your representatives are, as well as their contact information:
Use the link below to “Send a message to your lawmakers urging them to restore funding to the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program (CDMRP). It only takes a minute to send a message, and there’s a space to personalize your email with a few sentences about why kidney cancer research matters to you. Every message adds up.”
To send a personal message specifically about the Kidney Cancer Research Program, we have an email script you can use:
If you would like to meet in your congressperson’s local office, you can use this email script to request an in-district meeting:
KidneyCAN joins nearly 200 other patient advocacy, public health, and health care professional organizations signing on to a letter from the American Cancer Society endorsing strong support for the Clinical Trial Modernization Act (S. 4440/H.R. 3521). This was introduced by Senators Tim Scott (R-SC) and Mark Warner (D-VA) in the Senate in April 2026 and House Representatives Raul Ruiz (D-CA) and August Pfluger (R-TX) in the House in May 2025.
You can read more about the Clinical Trial Modernization Act and the letter sent by the ACS here.
KidneyCAN Program Director, Melissa Derr, is on the Hill today visiting congressional offices before the House Defense Appropriations bill is drafted.
We are reminding key offices of our FY27 request: restore funding for the Kidney Cancer Research Program to $50 million.
This funding is essential to advancing kidney cancer research, supporting scientific discovery, and accelerating cures for patients and families.
KidneyCan visits the offices of Representatives Aderholt, Calvert, Fleischmann, Carter, Valadao, Ellzey, Tome Cole, Womack, Joyce, and Diaz-Balart to keep kidney cancer research visible and urgent as funding decisions move forward.
KidneyCAN advocate, team lead, and US Veteran, Bruce Hill, speaks at a Congressional briefing hosted by CDMRP Director Colonel Hartell. This briefing gives a CDMRP overview, discusses organizational priorities, and highlights research accomplishments. Bruce speaks about his military service, kidney cancer diagnosis, and the importance of CDMRP research funding.
For the first time, KidneyCAN hosts a social hour for all new advocates to meet one another, connect, and share their experiences around their first advocacy day event.
KidneyCAN and other members of the Defense Health Research Consortium meet with staff from Senator Boozman AR’s office to advocate for increased federal funding for cancer research through the NIH and the NCI.
A CR is needed any time Congress cannot agree on spending levels and enact regular appropriations or when Congress and the President do not reach agreement by the start of the federal fiscal year in October. A year-long CR was passed in March 2025 for FY25.
The passed CR has significantly reduced funding for the CDMRP. 57% of the funds for CDMRP were moved to other departments within the Department of Defense. This was NOT a fiscal cut, but rather a shifting of funds away from CDMRP. Essentially eliminating the KCRP from funding for FY25.
Legislators can circulate letters among other offices asking for support of a certain issue. This is an internal congressional document. A Dear Colleague Letter asking for support of the KCRP is currently being circulated in the Senate by Senator Gillibrand and the House by Representative Gottheimer.
The CDMRP/KCRP programs seek to complete research on diseases, cancers, and injuries that overwhelmingly affect service men and women and their families. Kidney cancer disproportionately impacts service members, veterans, and their families. Environmental exposures contribute to kidney cancer and military personnel have an increased risk of these exposures. For example, males who serve in the military have a five- to six-fold greater chance of developing kidney cancer than the general US population.
Kidney cancer is the fourth leading cancer in incidence among patients of the United States Veterans Affairs Healthcare System. The Military Health System states that between 2010-2019 49,472 active service members and other Department of Defense beneficiaries were diagnosed with kidney cancer.
It is appropriate to have the Department of Defense continue to provide research funding necessary to develop innovative treatment options given the burden of kidney cancer in the U.S. military and veteran population.
“When you’re talking about medical research, when you’re talking about people’s lives, when you’re talking about clinical trials for Alzheimer’s disease or cancer that may take 3 or 4 years… those are people’s lives at risk.”
Dr. Francis Collins, former NIH Director
Reduced funding means fewer researchers can receive grants to conduct their work, impacting the overall progress of research in kidney cancer.
Without funding, the pivotal research that can lead to new drugs and therapies can be postponed or cancelled, pushing back the timeline for patients to access innovative treatments.
Budget cuts drain research momentum, risking a standstill in scientific progress and delaying, or even derailing, the next wave of lifesaving discoveries.
The CDMRP funds research that is relevant to National Security, such as research on diseases and disorders that affect service members and veterans. A reduction in funding could weaken our ability to protect our military personnel and respond to public health threats.
Reduced funding will lead to layoffs in research institutions and companies that rely on CDMRP grants for funding, impacting the economy.
Reduced funding could stifle innovation in the medical field, potentially leading to a slower pace of progress in developing new treatments and therapies.
“Nationwide, there is a hiring freeze at virtually every major academic university. And even if I did happen to secure a position, now the funding is so uncertain, I don’t know if I would have funding to actually do the research that I was hired on to do in whatever lab I join. We’re very seriously considering, at this point, leaving the United States.”
Error: No connected account.
Please go to the Instagram Feed settings page to connect an account.
