Two U.S. veterans living with multiple sclerosis and a neurologist with the Veterans Affairs MS Center of Excellence will speak at a briefing on Capitol Hill on Thursday, February 21. Encourage your legislator and their staff to attend. Click here and enter your ZIP code to send a quick note.
This important briefing will examine the need for increased federal investment in MS research and the increased prevalence of the disease among U.S. veterans. The National Multiple Sclerosis Society, in cooperation with Congressmen Russ Carnahan (MO) and Michael Burgess, M.D. (TX), co-chairs of the Congressional Multiple Sclerosis Caucus, is hosting the briefing. Dr. Mitch Wallin from the Department of Veterans Affairs MS Center of Excellence and U.S. veterans Bob Wolz and Dr. David Gustavison who live with MS will share their stories.
In 2007, your activism paid off when MS was listed as a research area eligible to compete for funding from the Department of Defense medical programs for the first time. This year we are pursuing a noncompetitive $15 million appropriation specifically for MS research in the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP) at the DoD. That funding is allocated under the Defense appropriations bill, which is negotiated every year. Find out more.
We need your help to encourage congressional staff to attend. The briefing will be the first big push toward securing MS research funding in the CDMRP this year. Please take a moment to send an e-mail to your legislator's office and encourage their staff to attend this important and educational briefing.
Thank you for being an MS activist. Join the movement at www.nationalMSsociety.org/advocacy
1 comment:
I just went through the list of Members that have joined the MS Caucus in the House. Only 3 Members from New York State, where I am from have signed on, 2 Republicans and 1 Democrat. I am going to write to my Representative and urge her to join, and I encourage others to do the same. I don't know what, if anything, this Caucus will accomplish, but since it is there I think we should push to have more members; perhaps that will send a positive message to anyone who bothers to notice, and it could send a negative message if only 76 members have signed on, which is the current total number.
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