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Contact Your Elected Officials to Increase Federal Funding for Research
For patients with serious blood diseases, research holds the greatest hope for better treatments and cures.
Congress will be working on funding legislation in September, so now is the time to contact your representative and senators and urge them to do all they can to increase federal funding of research.
To take action, simply fill out your contact information in the right column of the screen and personalize the form letter below. Once you have completed these steps, press the "Send This Message" button. This site will send the letter directly to your representative and senators, and a confirmation will be e-mailed to you within a few minutes of sending the letter. If you have questions, please contact ASH Government Relations Manager, Stephanie Kart, at 202-776-0544 or skart@hematology.org.
Dear [ Decision Maker ] , As a patient with a serious blood disease, I write to urge your support for including $30.88 billion for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the Fiscal Year 2009 Continuing Resolution. In the last five years, Congress has only provided nominal increases that have not let the NIH keep pace with biomedical inflation and that have amounted to flat funding for our country's premier biomedical research institutes. Inadequate funding for NIH hinders researchers' ability to sustain the momentum of discovery. Unless NIH is adequately funded, it will be extremely difficult for hematologists and other health professionals to create research advances and improve the health of all Americans. For hematology, sub-inflationary funding increases at NIH will effectively freeze research resources into cures and treatments for millions of Americans with blood cancers such as leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma; bleeding disorders such as hemophilia; clotting problems such as thrombosis; and, genetic disorders such as sickle cell disease, and Cooley's anemia, among others. I urge you to consider the House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees' approved funding levels as Congress develops a Continuing Resolution and that you support the highest funding level for NIH in any final funding package. Hematology research offers enormous promise to better understand, prevent, treat, and cure a number of blood-related and other conditions. It is critical that our country make this a priority.
Sincerely, |
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| Background Information |
A great deal of the nation's biomedical research is done at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Inadequate funding for NIH hinders the Institutes' ability to sustain the momentum of discovery. Unless NIH is adequately funded, it will be extremely difficult for hematologists and other health professionals to train promising researchers, create research advances, and improve the health of all Americans.
President George W. Bush released his FY 2009 budget proposal, which includes funding for the NIH earlier this year. The proposed budget would cut billions of dollars from federal health programs and eliminate scores of programs in order to make his first-term tax cuts permanent.
The Administration's proposal would provide $29.3 billion for NIH in FY 2009, which represents the sixth consecutive year that the NIH budget has failed to keep pace with biomedical inflation. In the five years through 2008, a series of nominal increases and cuts has amounted to flat funding for NIH, and NIH has lost approximately 11% in purchasing power due to inflation.
House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees approved spending bills earlier this summer with slight increases for NIH above the current year's funding level and President Bush's FY 2009 budget.
However, because of a shortened Congressional schedule due to the elections, Congress is not expected to complete working on these bills before the end of the fiscal year on September 30. Instead, they are expected to pass a Continuing Resolution (CR) which will continue FY 2008 funding through at least the end of January. Continuing with the FY 2008 funding levels in FY 2009 will be detrimental to the NIH. It is important that Congress considers the Subcommittees' approved funding levels as they draft the CR. It is critical that the highest funding level for NIH prevail in any final funding package.
