Contact Your Elected Officials to Increase Federal Funding for NIH Research

On Monday, February 1, President Barack Obama released his FY 2011 budget proposal, which includes funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). For FY 2011, President Obama has proposed approximately $32.089 billion in funding for NIH, a 3.2 percent increase over the final FY 2010 funding levels that were enacted in December of last year.

Though the President's budget request is simply a starting point for the annual budget process, Congress will begin hearings on the budget request in the near future. With a very tight year expected for the entire federal budget, now is the time to contact your Senators and Representative to generate interest in increasing NIH funding. Early and continued grassroots advocacy is crucial to ensuring adequate funding for NIH in FY 2011.

If you have questions, please contact ASH Research Advocacy Manager Tracy Roades at 202-776-0544 or troades@hematology.org.

Tell me more

Subject:

Dear [ Decision Maker ]:

(Edit Letter Below)

As a hematologist interested in research on blood disorders, I write to urge your support of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to advance groundbreaking basic, clinical, and translational research.

NIH-sponsored research leads to cures, saves lives and fuels our economy.  However, in the last several years, Congress has only provided nominal annual 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.  This has meant that researchers have not been able to pursue opportunities that could affect the health of all Americans.

Hematology research offers enormous promise to better understand, prevent, treat, and cure a number of blood-related and other conditions.  However, for hematology, sub-inflationary funding increases at NIH have effectively frozen 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.

Congress showed tremendous support for the biomedical research community with the funding provided for NIH in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).  The funding provided for the NIH in ARRA was a crucial step toward rebuilding NIH's vitality and reversing recent budget trends.  However, this commitment to NIH must be maintained.

Large fluctuations in funding for NIH hinder the Institutes' ability to sustain the momentum of discovery and are disruptive to careers, training, long-range projects, and ultimately to progress.  Unless NIH continues to be adequately funded, it will be extremely difficult for hematologists and other health professionals to continue to train promising researchers, create research advances, and improve the health of all Americans.

Again, I urge your continued support of NIH in FY 2011.  Please contact me if I can provide additional information to you.

Sincerely,
[Your name]
[Your address]

Take Action on this Issue

Send this message to:

Your Congressperson
Your Senators

Complete the following to send this message. If you have participated before, just type in your email address and set your prefix, then submit the form.

Email:*

Prefix:*

First Name:*

Last Name:*

Address Line 1:*

Address Line 2:

City:*

State:*

ZIP:*

Check this box if you would like to receive periodic updates or action alerts.

* Required Field

American Society of Hematology

Contact Your Elected Officials to Increase Federal Funding for NIH Research