ACTION ADVISORY
TO: Parkinson's-affected Community, Clinicians and Researchers
FROM: Joan I. Samuelson, Esq., President
RE: 1996 FEDERAL BUDGET FOR NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH
DATE: October 27, 1995
The 1996 NIH budget is stalled in the U.S. Congress, and millions of dollars
to Parkinson's research are
hanging in the balance. We need your help.
In September, the House of Representatives and the Senate Appropriations
Committee approved significant
increases in the NIH for 1996. In addition, the Senate added a historic,
special neurodegenerative research
initiative, adding $8 million for that purpose. Parkinson's research will be
a significant beneficiary of that
initiative.
This effort is threatened by the failure of Congressional Republicans and
Democrats and Clinton to reach
a compromise on other issues in the 1996 budget, in and outside the
"Labor-HHS" portion which includes
the NIH. Background on this problem is provided below. It is doing great
harm to the NIH and our
Parkinson's research needs:
Since the 1996 fiscal year started October 1, this delay already
has cost the NIH $50
million in funding for the first six weeks. Parkinson's research
is being hurt every day,
right now.
If the stalemate continues, this cut in NIH funding could last
throughout 1996. This could
require a reduction of as much as $1.1 billion, cuts or a freeze in
non-competing grants and
a reduction of up to two-thirds in the number of new and competing
grants.
The stalemate could cause the special $8 million neurodegenerative
research initiative to
be lost altogether. This would be tragic: this is our first
concrete success in increasing
Parkinson's research funding, which has been stalled at $26 million
NIH-wide for six years.
ACTION NEEDED: The Congress must hear from Parkinson's-related scientists
and the Parkinson's
community. We need you to contact your Senators and Representatives
immediately to break the
deadlock, fund the NIH at the House level and include the special
neurodegenerative research initiative.
Direct your call or letter to Senator __________ or Representative
__________, ATTN: Legislative
Assistant for Health, Senate/House Office Building, Washington D.C. The
Capital Switchboard number
is 202-224-3121. For further resources (fact sheets on the need for a
Parkinson's breakthrough, the cost
burden of Parkinson's on the nation, the Parkinson's research funding
disparity, etc.) call the Network at
(800) 850-4726.
A set of "talking points," which can be used for your own personalized letter
or phone call, follow. Do
it now.
TALKI NG POINTS/BACKGROUND
INFORMATION
Talking Points:
I am writing/calling to urge you to support the highest possible
funding for the National
Institutes of Health in the 1996 Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations
bill, including the
Senate's special $8 million neurodegenerative research initiative.
In a year when many programs are being cut or terminated by
Congress, the House and
Senate have made NIH a priority by proposing significant increases.
Research in Parkinson's and other neurodegenerative disorders has
been identified as
deserving of special attention. The Senate Appropriations
Committee added a special $8
million neurodegenerative research initiative, to be funded by an
additional allocation to
the budget of the NIH Office of the Director.
This research is particularly promising right now and would respond
to this investment by
a long-overdue breakthrough in Parkinson's treatment. [Here you
can provide further
details about your research or your personal story with Parkinson's
or the terrible cost of
Parkinson's, which recently was estimated in Senate testimony as
costing America in excess
of $25 billion per year.]
Please end the stalemate over the 1996 budget, and include in any
budget you support the
House-passed allocation to the NIH of $11.9 billion and the
Senate's special
neurodegenerative research initiative.
Background:
The House passed a 1996 NIH budget of $11.9 billion (an increase
over 1995 of 5.7%,
$642 million). The Senate Appropriations Committee passed a $11.6
billion NIH budget
(a 2.7%/$301 million increase over 1995). The bill needs to be
passed by the full Senate,
reconciled in a House-Senate conference and sent to the President.
The process is stalled by Republican-Democrat conflicts over
provisions in the Labor-HHS
bill unrelated to funding for NIH (including abortion restrictions
and replacement of
striking workers) and overall budgetary differences between Clinton
and the Congress.
Because of the budget stalemate and the Senate's failure to pass
the Labor-HHS bill,
funding for fiscal 1996 (which started on October 1) is operating
under a six-week
Continuing Resolution, which funds NIH at only 95% of its 1995
funding level. This is
a loss of $50 million to the NIH from October 1-November 15.
If the Senate fails to pass the Labor-HHS bill and a second,
year-long Continuing
Resolution is passed using the same formula as the first Continuing
Resolution, NIH would
be cut approximately $500 million below the 1995 appropriation.
This would be a
reduction of as much as $1.1 billion less than Congress has
proposed.
c:wpwin:act1027
