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Date: Friday, July 10, 1998 3:27:54 PM From: [log in to unmask] Please direct any questions or comments to Michael Claeys, PAN's Community Outreach Coordinator at (800) 850-4726 I would like to thank Leslie Lillard Walden for her sound advice on communicating with Congressional offices. Her experience will certainly be an asset as the Parkinson's community's campaign to fully fund the Udall Act moves progresses. To avoid readers' confusion, however, I want to correct some of the out of date or inaccurate information contained in her post. First and most importantly, the Morris K. Udall Parkinson's Research Act of 1997 has already passed the House and Senate and been signed into law by President Clinton -- signed on November 13, 1997 -- as part of the fiscal year 1998 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies (Labor/HHS) Appropriations Act. The Udall Act authorizing the NIH to direct up to $100 million in research focused on Parkinson's disease in fiscal year 1998, and such sums as may be necessary for fiscal years 1999 and 2000 is now the law of the land. Our challenge now is to ensure that this authorized funding get appropriated at the highest amount possible. This appropriated funding will come about through specific language included in the fiscal year 1999 Labor/HHS Appropriations Act. This massive bill will contain language setting the funding levels for all research conducted through the National Institutes of Health (NIH), as well as funding and directions for the entire Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, Education and other government agencies. The House and Senate Labor/HHS Appropriations Subcommittees are each currently crafting their own versions of the fiscal year 1999 Labor/HHS bills. Each version will move from the Labor/HHS Appropriations subcommittee to the full Appropriations committee in their respective body (House and Senate). (This step has already occurred in the House.) Later in the year, the full House and Senate will pass their own respective version of the Labor/HHS Appropriations bill for fiscal year 1999. The two versions of the Labor/HHS bill will likely contain slightly different language regarding Parkinson's disease research funding - as well as lots of other differences (some of them major) in both descriptions and funding levels for various programs. All these differences will be worked out by a "Conference Committee" comprised of the members of both the House and Senate Labor/HHS Appropriations Subcommittees - these are the 29 highest priority Members of Congress our grassroots and professional activists have spent so much time targeting this year. The Conference Committee will produce one final version of the Labor/HHS Appropriations bill for fiscal year 1999, and that version must be passed - without amendment -- by both the House and Senate and then signed by the President. If any of these steps is not accomplished, the bill is sent back for further consideration and adjustment until a mutually acceptable version is agreed upon. As this is an election year, it is highly unlikely that the Congress will adjourn without passing some version of a Labor/HHS bill for 1999. At the present time neither the House or Senate versions of the Labor/HHS Appropriations bill has been assigned a bill number. At some point in the near future, bill numbers will be assigned and Parkinson's activists will be notified. The bill numbers "S. 535" and "H.R. 1260" were for the freestanding Udall bill as introduced in 1997, and have no relevance to this year's campaign. In fact, bill numbering begins from scratch each legislative session (each year) and the numbers S. 535 and H.R. 1260 have likely been assigned to new bills. Since the Udall Act has already passed, there is no need to get cosponsors. Furthermore, cosponsors are typically not gathered for appropriations bills. One other technical correction: As the description above indicate, both the House and Senate have jurisdiction and committees organized to both authorize and appropriate new spending. Authorization and appropriations bill can be initiated in either body, but must ultimately be approved by both before proceeding to the President's desk.. A final note about the House and Senate calendars. The Senate is currently in session and will remain so through July 31. They are scheduled to recess from August 1 through August 30. The House is currently in recess and is scheduled to return on July 14. They will remain in session through August 9, before recessing until September 9. Both bodies are scheduled to adjourn for the year on October 9. All of these dates are subject to change. The Parkinson's Action Network will soon distribute more information concerning advocacy activities during the upcoming congressional recesses. Please direct any questions or comments to Michael Claeys, PAN's Community Outreach Coordinator at (800) 850-4726