Washington ? More than 3,300 cancer patients, survivors, friends and relatives fanned out across Capitol Hill on Wednesday to lobby Congress for more money for cancer research and detection.

Aiming to visit the offices of every member of Congress, the group also appealed to lawmakers to reauthorize a program that provides breast and cervical cancer screening and treatment for uninsured women.

President Bush’s proposed budget for the fiscal 2007 year beginning Oct. 1 would cut the National Cancer Institute’s budget by $40 million.

Wendy Selig, the American Cancer Society’s vice president for legislative affairs, said the institute needs a 5 percent increase – $240 million – in its $4.8 billion budget this year just to keep pace with medical inflation.

National Institutes of Health estimates for disease research show cancer funding staying fairly flat in recent years, with annual increases of $115 million and $92 million between 2003 and 2005, followed by a $49 million drop this year.

Thirty-one ambassadors represented Kansas, including Whitney Downum, a Kansas University senior.

Downum doesn’t have cancer, but the topic is close to her heart and her family. She lost her mother to the disease when she was 14 , and today her aunt, a participant in the celebration, is fighting breast cancer.

“Everyone here is so excited. There are more survivors here than I have ever seen in my entire life. It’s just incredible,” Downum said.

The two-day event sponsored by the cancer society and it sister advocacy group, the Cancer Action Network, attracted an estimated 10,000 people.

It is unlikely that the 2007 budget will pass before Congress takes a recess for mid-term election campaign season. As a result, cancer advocacy groups are hoping political pressure from events such as the Celebration on Capitol Hill might help cancer-related programs when the budget is finalized after the election.

“Help us to find a cure. We need the funding and everyone has to see our congressman. And we will not take no for an answer,” said Kansas cancer survivor Sue Jirkovsky-Landers.