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Three PD Priorities Need Support in August!

August is the perfect opportunity to meet with your Senators and Representative while they are home for August recess!  Congress generally adjourns for the month of August, allowing Members of Congress the opportunity to work back in their home state or district.  Members of Congress want to hear from their constituents—so now is the time to talk to them about PD and the issues important to the Parkinson’s disease community.   As you may know, the PD community is working on three key priorities this year—securing funding for the Department of Defense’s Neurotoxin Exposure Treatment Research Parkinson’s (NETRP) program, funding for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH).  Thanks to your meetings, calls, and e-mails, we have already been successful this year in securing an additional $150 million for both the FDA and NIH for Fiscal Year (FY) 2008 in the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations bill.  But we still have work to do! We must continue working hard through the August recess because Congress has yet to decide the FY 2009 funding levels for ANY of these priorities! In particular, you can help ensure that the NETRP program, the only PD specific granting program in the Federal government, receives the requested $55 million in the Defense Appropriations bill.  The NETRP program is funded every year by the unwavering support of the PD community.  If we do not continue advocating for adequate funding for this innovative program, no one else will!   Call your Senators’ or Representative’s district office and ask when your Member of Congress will be holding district “office hours” or hosting events, like a town hall meeting, during the month of August.  Schedule a meeting with your Member of Congress or their staff or make plans to attend an event.  By clicking “Take Action” our system will enable you to locate your Members of Congress’ district offices and contact information and will also provide you with talking points to use when you call. Take Action Once you have a meeting scheduled or an event to attend, print a set of “leave-behinds.” These leave-behinds are a set of supporting documents that provide your Member of Congress with additional information on the legislative issues discussed during the meeting.  Please click here to print off materials to bring to your meeting. Never called or visited your Members of Congress? Click here to learn more about contacting your Members of Congress!