By AdvocacyDepartment
Posted today at 12:10 pm
Thanks Bobby for your suggestion. At this time, we strongly encourage people to contact their Members of Congress in support of continued funding for the ALS Research Program (ALSRP) at the Department of Defense.

As we write this, Members of Congress and their staff are in the process of making key decisions on which programs to fund next year. Therefore, it is absolutely critical that we let them know that ALS research at the DOD must be a priority. If you do not act now, as these decisions are being made on Capitol Hill, it may be too late!

The ALSRP is a vital research program that is focused on translational research, leading to the development of new treatments for ALS. Please urge your Members of Congress to support a $5 million appropriation for the program next year. Background information and sample letters you can send are available in the Advocacy Action Center of our website, http://capwiz.com/alsa/home/.

We also encourage people to use the Advocacy Action Center to continue to build support for the ALS Registry Act in the Senate. As you know, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed the bill last year by a 411-3 vote and 73 Senators - more than two-thirds of the Senate - have cosponsored the bill, which also had been passed by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. We continue to work closely with the bill's sponsors, Senators Reid and Warner, to pass the bill in the Senate as soon as possible. We will keep you posted on any additional grassroots action they request.

It is important to note that The ALS Association, CDC and Congress have not waited for the ALS Registry Act to pass in order to begin the registry. Thanks to our efforts, Congress has provided $5 million to create a national ALS registry at the CDC, including $3 million last year! We are pleased that registry projects are underway and CDC is actively working to build the registry.

Letters you can send in support of the ALS Registry Act are available in the Advocacy Action Center.

When contacting Congress, please remember to only contact your Members of Congress. That's because Members of Congress only respond to their constituents, the people who live in their districts and states. So if you or someone you know lives in the state of a Senator who has not cosponsored the ALS Registry Act, please encourage them to reach out in support of this important legislation. To learn whether your Members of Congress have cosponsored the ALS Registry Act, please visit the Advocacy Action Center, here: http://capwiz.com/alsa/issues/bills/?bill=9776036.

We also wanted to let you know that there are many different ways to enact legislation and that the greater support you can generate for a bill, the better your chances of success. Therefore, we must continue to be strategic and focus our efforts where they can make the most difference.

We succeeded in passing the ALS Registry Act in the House by focusing on winning the support of the 411 Members who voted for it rather than tying up our efforts on the three who opposed it. Let's do the same in the Senate. A 99-1 vote is just as effective as 100-0.

Bobby, we also want emphasize, as you did in your earlier posting, that it is important for advocates to continue to "stay on message" when contacting their Members of Congress and focus their advocacy strategically, including where it can make the most difference...when it can make the most difference. Messages that talk about other programs, such as spending money on pork barrel things or sending money to other countries, dilute our own message and make it less likely that our ALS story will be heard. So please continue to tell your Members of Congress about this disease and why they should join us in this fight.

If people have any questions about the ALS Research Program at DOD or the ALS Registry Act, or would like information and assistance, please contact the Advocacy Department at advocacy@alsa-national.org or toll-free at 1-877-444-ALSA.