 |
 |
Listserve Update - Wednesday October 20, 1999 The House/Senate conference on the Labor-Health & Human Services-Education Appropriations bill continued throughout the day on Wednesday and is expected to wrap up sometime on Thursday October 21. The conference report is not expected to go to the House floor on its own, but will be added to the Appropriations bill funding the District of Columbia. Congressional leadership continues to say it intends to get these bills through Congress and to the President before the current continuing resolution runs out on Thursday. The final text of the Labor-HHS conference report will not be publicly available until it is printed by the Government Printing Office. This is expected to be Friday or possibly over the weekend. At that time we will know the exact language relating to Parkinson’s disease and Parkinson’s research funding. Based on the tremendous efforts of the Parkinson’s advocacy community this year, the wider and deeper support in Congress and the dramatic increase in national awareness of Parkinson’s, there are positive expectations for the Labor-HHS Appropriations conference report. But it’s not over yet… There is a chance that President Clinton will veto the Labor-HHS bill - over issues unrelated to Parkinson’s or other medical research funding - so there is a need to keep the Parkinson’s message in the ears of Congress. Alterations to the Labor-HHS bill will be made to address the President’s concerns, and whenever changes are made there is an opportunity to influence the bill. Parkinson’s advocates are encouraged to stay in contact with your Senators and Representatives. Remind them that unlike Congress, Parkinson’s patients don’t have a three month recess to look forward to. Urge them to do all they can, even at this late date, to ensure that Parkinson’s research receives an additional $75 million in research funding in fiscal year 2000. Deliver your message to the four key Members of Congress who have the most influence over the conference report language concerning Parkinson’s: Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) 711 Hart Building Washington, DC 20510 (202) 224-4254 - voice (202) 228-1229 - fax [log in to unmask] Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) 731 Hart Building Washington, DC 20510 (202) 224-3254 - voice (202) 224-9369 - fax [log in to unmask] Congressman John Porter (R-IL) 2373 Rayburn Building Washington, DC 20515 (202) 225-4835 - voice fax number not public www.house.gov/porter Congressman David Obey (D-WI) 2314 Rayburn Building Washington, DC 20515 (202) 225-3365 - voice (203) 225-3240 - fax no email or website Please contact the Parkinson’s Action Network (800) 850-4726 or [log in to unmask] with questions, comments or requests. Michael Claeys Policy Coordinator