Get Involved as an MS Activist — Visit Your Senators in the Local Office

Ask for MS Research Funding in the Defense Appropriations Bill

If your Senator is not on the list below, their support is needed to include multiple sclerosis research funding in the FY 08 Defense Appropriations bill.

Senators who requested MS research funding:
Barack Obama (IL) – lead

Norm Coleman (MN) – lead

John Warner (VA)

Dick Durbin (IL)

Ted Kennedy (MA)

Jim Bunning (KY)

Bernie Sanders (VT)

Bob Casey (PA)

Daniel Akaka (HI)

Maria Cantwell (WA)

Arlen Specter (PA)

Richard Burr (NC)

Robert Menendez (NJ)

John Kerry (MA)

Barbara Boxer (CA)

Jeff Bingaman (NM)

Amy Klobuchar (MN)

Jack Reed (RI)

Debbie Stabenow (MI)

Joe Lieberman (CT)

Sheldon Whitehouse (RI)

Legislators currently are at home for the summer recess. Before the end of August, schedule some time to visit your Senators in their district offices or just stop in. This is the time that legislators are listening to their constituents at home, so they will welcome the visit. Click here and enter your ZIP code to find the address and contact information of your Senators' district offices.

The FY 08 Defense Appropriations bill will be debated in the Senate next month when Congress returns from recess. During this debate, your Senators will have the authority to make our request for funding a reality by including $15 million for MS research in the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program, which is funded by the Defense Appropriations bill.

Some points to consider when visit your Senators:

• As a constituent and an MS activist, I'm asking for your support of multiple sclerosis research funding in the Defense Appropriations bill for the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program.
  
• In April, Senators Barack Obama (IL) and Norm Coleman (MN), and 19 other Senators, sent a bi-partisan request to the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee requesting $15 million for MS research through this Program.
  
• I urge you to make this request a reality this year by talking with your colleagues on the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. Ask them to ensure that MS research funding is provided. (If your Senator sits on the subcommittee, they have the authority of approve this funding. Click here to find out.)
  
• More than 25,000 veterans who are being treated through the VA system have a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis. A study published in the Annals of Neurology recently identified more than 5,000 cases of MS among U.S. veterans that were deemed "service-connected."
  
• Recent studies from combat areas in the Persian Gulf region point to a possible environmental trigger from neurotoxins. More funding is necessary to explore the possibility that something in the environment could trigger this disease among veterans and other Americans. Thank you.
  

Tell us how it goes. If you receive feedback when you call that might be helpful, email us at msactivist@nmss.org