National Institute of Health Cuts May Decrease Celiac Disease Funding

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Celiac.com 12/27/2005 - Funding for NIH (including the NIDDK which conducts critical research into Celiac disease) in next year's Labor-HHS Appropriations Bill is only slightly above last year's levels-inadequate to compensate for inflation and the development of promising research. However, Congress is also in the process of approving a 1% across-the-board cut to ALL discretionary programs (except Veterans programs)-including NIH.

This cut will decrease the NIH funding level for the first time in a generation and put in mortal jeporady the research that can lead to treatments and eventually a cure for Celiac disease. Not only will this cut affect the work of NIH for this year, but will set back medical research into Celiac disease for many years to come.

Because the Celiac community relies heavily on research conducted by NIH, it is critical that individuals speak out against this bill. Because of the low NIH funding, the Celiac community must demand that the Labor-HHS appropriations bill be rejected, and a new bill that addresses the funding needs of NIH be enacted.

The bill has passed the House of Representatives and awaits a vote in the Senate. If you have not yet contacted your Senator to ask for their "no" vote on this bill, please do so now. If you have, please do so again. To reach your Senator, call the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected with the offices of your state's Senators.

The progress of vital research for Celiac disease and countless other ailments and conditions lies in the balance. Please do your part and speak out!

Jonathan R Pawlow, Jr.
Digestive Disease National Coalition
507 Capitol Court, NE, Suite 200
Washington, DC 20002
202-544-7497
202-546-7105 (fax)
Pawlow@HMCW.org

NIH Appropriations Update

Continue to urge congress to support biomedical research in the final fiscal year 2006 labor-hhs-education appropriations bill

The United States Senate was expected to vote on the fiscal year 2006 appropriations bill for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education last week. The health community's advocacy in opposition to the Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill had an impact in the Senate, as Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) set aside a vote on the bill.

However, on Sunday, December 18th, the House passed the fiscal year 2006 Defense appropriations bill, which included a 1% reduction in appropriations for all federal programs excluding veterans' assistance. This means the budget for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) would receive a cut in funding, leaving the budget below fiscal year 2005 levels, if the Senate approves the fiscal year 2006 Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill. The Senate is expected to vote this week, as early as today, on the bill.

Requested Action:

Please contact your senators immediately and urge them to vote no on the Labor-HHS Appropriations Conference Report. in addition, ask them to restore funding for nih in the bill to the level originally called for in the senate version of the legislation ($29.3 billion).

To contact your senators, please visit www.senate.gov or call the U.S. Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121.



http://www.celiac.com/st_prod.html?p_prodid=1272

Mr. ____________,
I understand that a bill has been passed in the House of
Representatives and is awaiting a vote in the senate. This bill cuts
the funding to the National Institute of Health.

This cut will decrease the NIH funding level for the first time in a
generation and put in mortal jeporady the research that can lead to
treatments and eventually a cure for Celiac disease. Not only will
this cut affect the work of NIH for this year, but will set back
medical research into Celiac disease for many years to come.

Because the Celiac community relies heavily on research conducted by
NIH, it is critical that you vote against this bill. Because of the
low NIH funding, the Celiac community must demand that the Labor-HHS
appropriations bill be rejected, and a new bill that addresses the
funding needs of NIH be enacted.

I have Celiac disease and the funding that NIH recieves is very
important to me. Please vote NO on this bill. Thank you.

Sincerely,

I'm not sure how many of you saw this article. But here it is just incase you hadn't seen it yet. Funding for the National Institute of Health could possibly be cut if we don't get moving!! In order to let people know what we need weHAVE to speak out. Folks, we have done this before, and now is a great time to do it again. It is time to write your Senators!! Let them know that passing the bill to cut NIH funding just isn't what we need to do! Cutting funding not only hurts celiacs but it hurts anyone with health concerns. Here is the letter that I composed and sent to my senators.
You can use the direct link to the Celiac Task Force on my support group homepage ( http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/USASillyYaks/ ) to find your senators. It only take a few min. to write. You are more than welcome to use the letter that I used and just insert your name
to save you even more time. Let's get to work folks!!

-Jessica

I may be the lone holdout, but this isn't a cut *aimed* at celiac disease, this is a cut for the whole of the NIH. Given the budget problems we've got, there's a reason to be cutting back on spending, and I think there are more important things to spend money on than celiac disease research. I'm not saying that it's not important (to me), but in the grand scheme of the nation's priorities, I don't think it's a sufficient reason to scratch and start over on such a major bill as the defense spending bill.

But I do think it's good that people have gotten in contact with their representatives to let them know what they're concerns are.

How many cuts are you going to take before you write and show that it IS important to you? We may need to cut spending in places, but you also need to show what is important!! If you just let things pass by then you are saying that it's totally ok by you to cut funding. You have to stand up at some point and say HOLD IT!!

-Jessica

It will take as much cutting as would lower it too a point below which I believe research of that priority should be funded at. Yes, I am saying that, to me, it IS ok to cut funding in this area because of the big-picture of economic issues going on in the country. I do not see this, for me, as being the time or place to stand up and say "hold it". ANWR, I would have been willing to do so for, even in the context of the bill it had been reproachably attached to. You also assume that I haven't written in to suggest what is important to me. I can do that without saying "vote yes or no on bill X".

How much national defense spending are you willing to put on hold because of celiac disease research? (I do not say this to be trite, or as a "comeback", but what concerns me is the scope issue here. I could see suggesting that NIH funding be separated from defense allocations, so that they can be more fairly evaluated separately, but the actual breakdown of NIH funding, except at a very high level, isn't covered in this bill at all. It would be more efficient to write to the NIH urging them to allocate the money they are given in ways that support celiac research. That would, of course, mean reducing research somewhere else - it's always a give and take.)

Dear Jessica,

Thank you for contacting me regarding funding for the
National Institutes of Health (NIH). I appreciate hearing from you.

Between 1999 and 2003, Congress doubled funding for the
National Institutes of Health, increasing funding from $13.6 billion
in 1999 to $27.2 billion in 2003. The NIH has responded to
specific homeland security needs since 9/11 by focusing resources
on bio-defense research priorities. On December 14, 2005, the
House passed the conference report making FY06 appropriation
for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and
Education. On December 30, 2005, this became law. The
conference report provides increased funding for medical research
at NIH by $253 million, bringing total funding to $28.6 billion.
Included in the NIH budget is $100 million for the Global Fund to
Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, as well as funding to
combat influenza and potential pandemics abroad and at home.

It is important that the NIH budget continues to fund
important life-saving research. Please feel free to contact me again
with comments or concerns on matters that are important to you.



God Bless You,

Jim Ryun