Date: Friday, June 26, 1998 7:39:00 From: [log in to unmask] If you have any
questions or comments, please
contact Michael Claeys at the Parkinson's Action Network: (800)
850-4726."
"Statement Following the House Labor/HHS Appropriations Subcommittee
Action
Paul Smedberg, the Washington, DC representative of the American
Parkinson Disease Association, has previously posted remarks concerning
the House Labor, Health & Human Services, Education and Related Agencies
Appropriations (Labor/HHS) Subcommittee's passage of their fiscal year
1999 spending bill. Paul's analysis was clear and accurate, and I'm
sure it was as helpful for the many interested members of our community
as it was for me. My intent here is not to repeat what Paul has done,
but hopefully to enhance it a little based on questions we have received
this week.
In short, the action taken this week by the House's Labor/HHS
Subcommittee is good news for the Parkinson's community. Their
appropriations bill includes a substantial 9% (or about $1.2 billion)
increase over the 1998 budget of the National Institutes of Health
(NIH). With that size increase, the House has provided the NIH the
resources needed (and then some!) to fully fund the $100 million
authorized by the Udall Act.
Just because the money is there, however, doesn't ensure that it will be
spent on research focused on Parkinson's. From what we know of the bill
(the Labor/HHS Subcommittee has made public only the broad funding
levels of the bill) the House has not included a clear statement calling
for full funding of the Udall Act. This bill will be accompanied by a
"report" - a set of specific instructions or "suggestions" from the
committee on how to spend the appropriated funds. The report may
include language referring to a Parkinson's research program. How
report language is worded is very important in determining exactly what
is done with the money. We are told the report will be made available
to the members of the committee on June 8.
On or around July 14, the Labor/HHS Subcommittee's bill - Chairman John
Porter's bill - will go before the full House Appropriations Committee.
That will be an opportunity for members not sitting on the Labor/HHS
Subcommittee to comment on or amend the Subcommittee's bill. It is
unlikely that any changes will be made to the Parkinson's language at
that point. From there the bill goes to the floor of the House of
Representatives to be debated, amended and voted on. Although
technically possible, it is also unlikely that any Parkinson's-related
changes will be made on the House floor.
It should be pointed out that the Labor/HHS Appropriations bill is a
very large, complex piece of legislation, encompassing funding for a
great many divergent programs and initiatives. Each year this bill is
the subject of a tremendous amount of rancorous debate as both political
parties try to push their agendas and individual Representatives promote
their own priority issues. Like clockwork, one can predict annual
squabbles over education spending, needle-exchange programs, and federal
support for home heating fuel, just to name a few. With this being an
election year, you can bet the rhetoric will be as intense as ever.
While it is advisable for us to be aware of the political context in
which this bill is progressing, it is not wise to get caught up in the
political bickering and brinkmanship that is so much apart of
Washington's current environment. The Republicans in Congress will cut
the President's pet projects and put the money into their own favorite
programs. The President will threaten a veto. Both sides will lament
that the sky is falling - but it will not fall - these tactics are part
power-play and part political theater. It is an election year, and
Congress will pass and the President will sign some form of a Labor/HHS
Appropriations bill. Our best chance of success is for the Parkinson's
community to stay focused on our objective, and repeat our message in
mantra-like fashion: FULLY FUND THE UDALL ACT, $100 MILLION FOR DIRECT
PARKINSON'S RESEARCH.
Starting some time after the Fourth of July recess, the Senate will
follow the same route that the House as already begun. The Senate's
Labor/HHS Appropriations Subcommittee, chaired by Pennsylvania's Arlen
Specter (R), will pass its own version of a fiscal year 1999 spending
bill. That bill will then go before the full Senate Appropriations
Committee, where it will be accompanied by a report - a report very
likely to include more favorable Parkinson's language than will be
included in the House version. Once the full Senate Appropriations
Committee passes the bill, it will go to the Senate floor where more
debate and changing will take place.
Finally, the Senate will pass a bill, and then that bill will join the
House's Labor/HHS Appropriations bill for consideration by a joint
House/Senate Conference Committee, who have the job of producing one
final bill from the two bill's previously adopted by the House and
Senate. The Labor/HHS Conference Committee will likely convene sometime
in September, but of course we can only speculate at the approximate
timetable.
This may seem like a confusing process - and it is - but our message
will remain the same throughout - FULLY FUND THE UDALL ACT.
So what can you do now?
If your Representative or Senator(s) is a member of the Labor/HHS
Appropriations Subcommittee (see list below), you need to contact them
in the most effective ways you can (letters, petitions, personal visits,
input from influential friends, using the local media, etc.) and deliver
your personal story along with our community's message.
If you Representative or Senator(s) is a member of the full
Appropriations Committee, you should deliver the message to them, and
urge them to talk to or write letters to their friends and colleagues on
the Labor/HHS Subcommittees, including Chairman Porter and Specter.
Even if your Representative or Senator(s) are not on the Appropriations
Committee they can contact their friends and colleagues who are and urge
them to do all they can to support increased funding for Parkinson's
research consistent with the provisions of the Udall Act.
The House Labor/HHS Subcommittee has acted, so now the Senate Labor/HHS
Subcommittee is the first priority target in the coming weeks. But all
House and Senate Appropriators and Leadership officers are important as
this phase of the game.
The hard work has paid off thus far, and we must keep up the pressure to
achieve ultimate success. If you have any questions or comments, please
contact Michael Claeys at the Parkinson's Action Network: (800)
850-4726."
----------------------- Headers --------------------------------
Return-Path: <[log in to unmask]>
Received: from relay29.mx.aol.com (relay29.mail.aol.com [172.31.109.29]) by
air15.mail.aol.com (v45.13) with SMTP; Fri, 26 Jun 1998 19:39:00 -0400
Received: from marine.sonic.net (marine.sonic.net [208.201.224.37])
by relay29.mx.aol.com (8.8.8/8.8.5/AOL-4.0.0)
with SMTP id TAA10495 for <[log in to unmask]>;
Fri, 26 Jun 1998 19:38:58 -0400 (EDT)
Received: (qmail 2574 invoked from network); 26 Jun 1998 23:37:55 -0000
Received: from unknown (HELO sub.sonic.net) (208.201.224.8)
by marine.sonic.net with SMTP; 26 Jun 1998 23:37:55 -0000
Received: from sonic.net (d152.nas17.sonic.net [208.201.231.152]) by
sub.sonic.net (8.8.8/8.8.5) with ESMTP id QAA31543 for <[log in to unmask]>;
Fri, 26 Jun 1998 16:38:55 -0700
X-envelope-info: <[log in to unmask]>
Message-ID: <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Fri, 26 Jun 1998 16:38:34 -0700
From: "Parkinson's Action Network" <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: [log in to unmask]
Organization: Parkinson's Action Network
X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.03 [en] (Win95; I; 16bit)
MIME-Version: 1.0
To: Barbara Schirloff <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Listserve Post
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
