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Because of transmission errors in this very important post I am resending it in total. ----------------------------- from Michael Claeys, Parkinson's Action Network- Urge President Clinton To Fully Fund Udall Act Call and Tell Your Senators to Sign McCain/Wellstone Letter November 13, 1997 witnessed the historic signing into law of the Morris K. Udall Parkinson's Research Act. It was a landmark day for every person who cares about Parkinson's, particularly those in the advocacy community who made it happen. As big a step as it is, however, passage of the Udall Act alone is not enough. The Udall Act authorizes (or approves) the increased research funding, but it is up to Congress and the President to ensure that the money gets appropriated (or actually provided). One way to do this is for the President to include specific and directed funding in his fiscal year 1999 budget request, which he is now preparing. Inclusion in the President 's budget will give Parkinson's a position at the starting line of the 1999 budget process, rather than leaving us having to catch up to the rest of the field. Recognizing the importance of this early action, the Udall Act's Senate champions, John McCain (R-AZ) and Paul Wellstone (D-MN), have drafted a letter to President Clinton urging him to include full funding of the Udall Act as part of his fiscal year 1999 budget Request (please see attached draft). Senators McCain and Wellstone are now circulating the letter among their 64 Senate colleagues who cosponsored the Udall bill this year and asking that they join in urging the President to fund the Udall Act. Obviously, the greater the number of Senators signing the letter, the greater the show of Congressional antically important to getting the needed resources into the hands of Parkinson's researchers. Below is a list of Senators cosponsoring the Udall bill. If one or both of your Senators is on the list, contact them immediately, and urge them to sign the McCain/Wellstone letter! Speak with your Senator's Washington, DC office, and ask that someone call you back to confirm that your Senator has signed the letter. Please do not mail letters to you Senators, time is too short! Call your Senators today! All Senators can be reached through the Capitol switchboard at (202)-224-3121. If you would like to fax or email your messages, please contact the Network at (800) 850-4726 for your Senators' fax numbers and email addresses. If one or both of your Senators did not cosponsor, immediately contact them and ask them to send their own letter to President Clinton urging full funding of the Udall Act in 1999! (You can give them the attached McCain/Wellstone letter as a guide.) Please act now! If you have any questions, please contact Michael Claeys at (800) 850-4726. S.535 - The Morris K. Udall Parkinson's Disease Research Act of 1997 Introduced by: John McCain, R-AZ & Paul Wellstone, D-MN 64 Cosponsors: Robert Bennett, R-UT Joseph Biden D-DE Jeff Bingaman D-NM Christopher (Kit) Bond, R-MO Barbara Boxer, D-CA John Breaux, D-LA Sam Brownback, R-KS Richard Bryan, D-NV Conrad Burns, R-MT Ben Nighthorse Campbell, R-CO Max Cleland, D-GA Thad Cochran, R-MS Susan Collins, R-ME Paul Coverdell R-GA Larry Craig R-ID Alfonse D'Amato R-NY Thomas Daschle D-SD Mike De Wine R-OH Christopher Dodd D-CT Byron Dorgan D-ND Richard Durbin D-IL Lauch Faircloth R-NC Dianne Feinstein D-CA Wendell Ford D-KY John Glenn D-OH Slade Gorton R-WA Bob Graham D-FL Charles Grassley R-IA Tom Harkin D-IA Orrin G. Hatch R-UT Ernest Hollings D-SC Tim Hutchinson R-AR James Inhofe R-OK Daniel Inouye D-HI Tim Johnson D-SD Edward Kennedy D-MA Robert Kerrey D-NE John Kerry D-MA Frank Lautenberg D-NJ Patrick Leahy D-VT Carl Levin D-MI Joseph Lieberman D-CT Connie Mack R-FL Mitch McConnell R-KY Barbara Mikulski D-MD Carol Moseley Braun D-IL Patrick Moynihan D-NY Patty Murray D-WA Don Nickles R-OK Jack Reed D-RI Harry Reid, D-NV Charles S. Robb D-VA John Rockefeller D-VW William Roth Jr. R-DE Rick Santorum R-PA Paul Sarbanes D-MD Jeff Sessions R-AL Richard Shelby R-AL Gordon Smith R-OR Olympia Snowe R-ME Arlen Specter R-PA Robert Torricelli D-NJ John Warner R-VA Ron Wyden R-OR Text of McCain/Wellstone Letter to President Clinton: President William Clinton 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Washington, DC Dear President Clinton, As you prepare the federal budget request for fiscal year 1999, we urge you to include funding to implement the Morris K. Udall Parkinson's Research and Education Act. As you know, this important provision authorizing $100 million for Parkinson's research at the National Institutes of Health was included in H.R. 2264, the FY98 labor /HHS Appropriations bill which you signed into law on November 13, 1997. Parkinson's disease is a cruel and debilitating disease which afflicts more than one million Americans. People afflicted by this dreadful disease experience tremors, loss of balance and repeated falls, loss of memory, confusion, and depression. Ultimately, this disease results in total incapacity for an individual, including the inability to speak. Each of them lives with fear and frustration as they become prisoners within their own bodies, clinging to the hope that a scientific breakthrough may soon be discovered and they will be liberated. The Udall provision will sustain the hope of the millions of Americans who suffer with this disease by increasing the federal government's financial investment in Parkinson's research and allowing us to make significant scientific progress. Recently, our nation's scientists have been making tremendous progress in the field of Parkinson's research. In fact, there are significant indications of a very strong potential for major breakthroughs in identifying the cause and treatment of Parkinson's in this decade. According to a wide array of experts, we are on the verge of substantial, ground-breaking scientific discoveries regarding the cause and potential cure of Parkinson's disease. It is imperative that we provide funding for the Udall bill in FY 1999 and give our scientific researchers the necessary funding and support to seize this rare opportunity to beat Parkinson's. That is why we supported the Udall Parkinson's Research Act and worked together for it to become law during the first session of the 105th Congress. We urge you to include full funding for the Morris K. Udall Parkinson's Research and Education Act as a part of your FY 1999 budget request. Millions of Americans are looking to all of us for the financial support needed to find a cure for this cruel disease. John McCain, United States Senator Paul Wellstone, United States Senator