All:
From Research!America, via LifeStar World Health Initiative and interim SENS Foundation Chair Barbara Logan:
Speak Out for NIH Funding Now: Contact Your Representative by March 17
Funding for the National Institutes of Health in FY 2011 is in the hands of Congress now and it’s time to take action. Please write to your representative immediately to ensure NIH does not lose ground.
Representatives Edward Markey (D-7th, MA), Janice Schakowsky (D-9th, IL), Rush Holt (D-12th, NJ), Susan Davis (D-53rd, CA), Joe Courtney (D-2nd, CT) and Jackie Speier (D-12th, CA) are inviting their colleagues to join them on a letter in support of increased funding for NIH in FY 2011. The letter states that the advocacy community is recommending a $35 billion increase for NIH and that the congressional members are “seeking an increase for NIH of at least 7 percent, with some of us believing that the appropriate funding increase would be as much as 12 percent.” ($35 billion) The deadline to sign the letter is March 17.
Each congressional office can also submit a Program Level Request to the Labor Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations Subcommittee recommending $35 billion for NIH in FY 2011. This is the one opportunity for all members of Congress to make their own funding recommendations to the leadership.
It is critical for representatives to both sign the letter and submit the Program Level Request. Urge your representative to do so immediately. Take action now!
Barbara adds, "fill in your preferred "Program Level Request" for where funding should be directed ([Biological] Aging and Regenerative Medicine was my urging." I would strongly suggest customizing your editable message so it looks serious and not just like a clickety-click petition. I would also strongly suggest that such messages be framed in what are relatively conservative terms for our group (ie, no cryonics, mind-uploading, Drexlerian nano, etc), along the lines laid in this post on political action for life extension research.
Edited by Michael, 12 March 2010 - 08:01 PM.
