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During the course of Tuesday's Senate Labor HHS Subcommittee markup, some rather interesting remarks were made by the Chairman of the full Appropriations Committee during his prepared statement to the Subcommittee. They appeared in the Wednesday morning edition of the National Journal's "Congress Daily" Chairman Ted Stevens (R-AK), whose attendance in and of itself was rather suprising, expressed frustration with NIH and his inability to get any concrete numbers from the Institutes on money spent on prostate cancer research. This may sound familiar to some, as many members of Congress share a similar frustration with the way that NIH spends the money it is given, but the Chairman took it a step further. He sent a clear message that appropriators might attempt to begin earmarking NIH funds for specific programs. "We're going to change our policy regarding earmarking, at least for prostate cancer," said Stevens, who happens to be a prostate cancer survivor. While this should not be interpreted as being directly related to Parkinson's disease, it is a rather encouraging and unexpected signal from arguably one of the most powerful people on the Hill that as members' frustration with the lack of accountability at NIH increases, opposition to disease specific earmarking (at least in the Senate) may be ebbing. This might help our efforts to receive funding for the Udall Act during this session's upcoming conference process, and in the future. btw: Chairman Stevens voted in favor of the Udall bill during the last session of Congress, when it passed 95 to 3 as an amendment to his committee's FY98 bill, so he has been supportive of our efforts in the past. The Chairman may have more to say on this subject at 2:00 today during full committee markup. Bill Turenne, Jr. NPF/ Washington 1-888-331-4NPF [log in to unmask]