[Stitcher]

Call Your Senators NOW in Support of NIH & FDA!

Help Secure Funding Increases in Omnibus!

Take Action!
This link will take you to the page to enter your Zip Code, which will take you to the pages containing, 1) who to call and 2) Talking Points for the call.

Vote is Tonight!

Majority Leader Harry Reid has expressed concern that there are not enough votes in the Senate to pass H.R. 1105, the Fiscal Year (FY) 2009 Omnibus Appropriations bill. Without the votes to pass the Omnibus, Congress will instead vote on a continuing resolution. This will mean that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) will be flat-funded for the remainder of Fiscal Year 2009 and will not receive much-needed increases in funding.

Please take action immediately by calling your Senators and telling them to vote yes on H.R. 1105. The Parkinson’s community must ensure Congress continues to make strong investments in the drug development science and biomedical research that is imperative to finding better treatments for Parkinson’s disease.

TAKE ACTION!

Issue Background:

As you may recall, in September, Congress passed a continuing resolution that provided only five months of funding for most government agencies, including the NIH and FDA. Over the last several weeks, Congress has been working to pass the Omnibus Appropriations Act to ensure the Federal government is appropriately funded for the remainder of the Fiscal Year.

The Omnibus Appropriations Act includes a significant increase in funding for the FDA and a modest increase for the NIH. The FDA would receive a $325 million increase over FY 2008 levels, bringing the total for the agency to $2.038 billion. The NIH will be provided a 3.2%, or $937.5 million, increase over FY 2008 funding levels.

The House of Representatives passed the Omnibus by a vote of 245 to 178 on February 25, 2009. The Senate must pass the bill and send it to the President for his signature before the continuing resolution expires tomorrow, March 6.

[jeanb]

I hope folks called their Senators. i find it discouraging that no matter how important the issue is, so few people actually respond to PAN's Action Alerts.

We CAN make a difference, but we have to make the effort.

[Stitcher]

Now there is a whole week to call!!

Senate puts off vote on omnibus spending bill

USA Today, March 6, 2009, Posted 3/5/2009 9:24 PM

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has put off until next week a final vote on a $410 billion catchall spending bill. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says he is one vote short of the 60 votes needed to advance the measure. The Nevada Democrat has now decided to allow Republicans more opportunities to change it next Monday.