July 23, 2010
Urge Your Senators to Support $37 Billion for NIH in 2011
Make Your Voice Heard on NIH Funding!
You can submit the FASEB online template using this link. http://capwiz.com/faseb/home/ or you can find your elected official by using the link below, copy and paste the letter template below into your e-mail program and send.
Elected Officials Find elected officials, including the president, members of Congress, and more by clicking on this link: http://capwiz.com/faseb/dbq/officials/
This month, the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor/Health & Human Services/Education (LHHS) will consider and vote on the preliminary version of the bill that will eventually determine the fiscal year 2011 (Oct. 1, 2010 - Sept. 30, 2011) budget for medical research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). FASEB issued its annual funding recommendation in January, urging Congress to increase the budget for NIH to $37 billion next year. This funding level is an important step toward achieving a sustainable and predictable investment in biomedical research.
It is important that your Senators hear from you! Please take action now to let your Senators know that we must continue our investment in research to accelerate the pace of discovery and improve the health of our nation's citizens. Feel free to modify the email letter below to include examples from your own research, home institution, or local economy.
Urge Your Senators to Support $37 Billion for NIH in 2011
Make Your Voice Heard on NIH Funding!
You can submit the FASEB online template using this link. http://capwiz.com/faseb/home/ or you can find your elected official by using the link below, copy and paste the letter template below into your e-mail program and send.
Elected Officials Find elected officials, including the president, members of Congress, and more by clicking on this link: http://capwiz.com/faseb/dbq/officials/
This month, the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor/Health & Human Services/Education (LHHS) will consider and vote on the preliminary version of the bill that will eventually determine the fiscal year 2011 (Oct. 1, 2010 - Sept. 30, 2011) budget for medical research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). FASEB issued its annual funding recommendation in January, urging Congress to increase the budget for NIH to $37 billion next year. This funding level is an important step toward achieving a sustainable and predictable investment in biomedical research.
It is important that your Senators hear from you! Please take action now to let your Senators know that we must continue our investment in research to accelerate the pace of discovery and improve the health of our nation's citizens. Feel free to modify the email letter below to include examples from your own research, home institution, or local economy.
TEMPLATE
Dear Senator Enter Name:
I am writing to urge you to support $37 billion for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as you consider the Fiscal Year 2011 Labor/Health & Human Services/Education (LHHS) Appropriations bill. This funding level will accelerate and promote discoveries leading to improved health of our nation's citizens and will continue the momentum from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). We must ensure that NIH has the necessary resources to continue currently supported capacity and maintain valuable research initiatives, including those made possible by ARRA funding.
As a researcher/scientist/professor/etc], I am sincerely grateful for your faith in the research community and your generosity in providing the resources that are essential for progress in science. Thanks to the prior federal investment in NIH, my colleagues and I have made critical advances in understanding basic science, mapped the human genome, saved and improved the lives of millions of Americans and provided doctors with tools to prevent and treat costly diseases. Everyday researchers and scientists are working tirelessly to translate research results into interventions for the most debilitating medical conditions and communicate research findings to patients and their families, health care providers, and the general public. Despite the fragile economy, now is not the time to retreat from our historic commitment to investigation and discovery. We must nurture our research investment to benefit from the knowledge that we have gained and ensure that continued progress is not curtailed.
In closing, I respectfully request that you support a funding level of $37 billion for NIH in the Fiscal Year 2011 LHHS Appropriations bill. NIH needs sustainable and predictable budget growth to achieve the full promise of medical researchto improve the health and longevity of all Americans. I appreciate that the LHHS appropriations bill provides funding for a wide range of critical human service programs and thank you for recognizing that prosperity and quality of life are increasingly shaped by investments in medical research.
