This August, Congress is on recess and all U.S. senators and representatives have returned to their home districts to visit their constituents. This is an ideal time to contact your representative and let them know what issues matter to the Parkinson's community.
Below you'll find updates on several important policy issues and tools for emailing your members of Congress. Let them know how their decisions impact Parkinson's patients, families and caregivers.
If you'd like to get even more involved, consider calling your official's office to voice your support for an issue or request an in-person meeting. You can locate your members' contact information in MJFF's congressional directory.
Federal Research Funding
Congress is working to set next year's budget and allocate funding for fiscal year 2017. As part of this process, the House and Senate are deciding whether and where to increase or decrease federal spending.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH), a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the nation's medical research agency and the largest worldwide funder of PD research, supporting approximately $146 million in Parkinson's research in FY 2015. NIH research offers great promise for finding better treatments and a cure.
In addition, the Department of Defense (DoD) Parkinson's Research Program addresses fundamental gaps in our understanding of how Parkinson's develops. It is the only government-funded research program specifically dedicated to Parkinson's disease.
The Michael J. Fox Foundation strongly supports at least $34 billion in NIH funding and $16 million in DoD Parkinson's research funding for fiscal year 2017. Stable and certain research funds are critical to advancing scientific breakthroughs that lead to new treatments and cures.
Contact your members of Congress and urge them to support federal research funding as they set the budget for fiscal year 2017.
Neurological Disease Data Collection
The Advancing Research for Neurological Diseases Act seeks to create a national data collection system for neurological diseases, including Parkinson's, to collect information on incidence and prevalence, as well as other factors important to the research community. The system would provide a foundation for evaluating and understanding many factors, such as geographic clusters of diagnoses, variances in the gender ratio and changes in health care practices. The database would support a wide range of research initiatives, allow for future planning of health care needs and promote education about neurological diseases.
The House version of this legislation has already been approved. The Senate version has been rolled into a larger package of bills that is still awaiting introduction to the Senate floor for a full vote.
As the Advancing Research for Neurological Diseases Act awaits action in the Senate, contact your senators and remind them of the importance of this bill.