July 25, 2007, the full House Appropriations Committee passed the Defense Appropriations bill for Fiscal Year (FY) 2008 by voice vote. The bill provides $25 million for the Neurotoxin Exposure Treatment Research Program (NETRP) which funds top-notch, innovative Parkinson’s disease research at the Department of Defense. Late on July 24, PAN heard that language may have been included in the House Defense Appropriations bill that would cut NETRP by $9 million and remove the program's focus on Parkinson's disease. The program would have been cut by $1.5 million, and $7.5 million would have been re-designated for research outside of the scope of the program.
Due to the tireless efforts of our grassroots leadership, as well as our congressional champions, who reached out to Appropriations Committee leadership, the offending language re-designating the scope of the program was removed in the Manager’s Amendment. The Manager’s Amendment aims to rectify minor changes or edits but can also include or omit wording, providing substantive change to the bill. PAN will continue to work with House and Senate leadership to ensure that NETRP’s funding remains intact and its focus remains on Parkinson’s disease research.
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