2007 Federal Epilepsy Appropriations

Speak Up, Speak Out Network

Greetings,

June 12, 2006

Thanks to your hard work, including attendance at Public Policy Institute and sending loads of emails and letters to Capitol Hill, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health & Human Services, Education and Related Agencies has restored funding for the CDC Epilepsy Program at $7.684 million!

The subcommittee began work Wednesday morning on a spending bill that appropriates money for each of the programs at the three federal agencies in the subcommittee. The overall allocation was just enough to keep most programs funded at the same level as last year, restore some of the programs proposed for elimination and adjust some programs up or down slightly.

The epilepsy demonstration program at the Health Resources Services Administration was level funded at $3 million.
The Maternal and Child Health Block Grant was increased slightly from $693 million in FY 2006 to $700 million for FY 2007.
Funding for the National Institutes of Health sustained a very small cut. Funding for NIH overall is $28.3 billion.
Funding for the National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke, where epilepsy research is primarily conducted, was given a small cut of $10,000, reducing funding to $1.524 billion.
Funding for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act programs remained level.

Restoration of the CDC Epilepsy Program should be a source of great pride to Speak Up Speak Out advocates. Each of you accepted the challenge this year to help convince Congress of this program's value. Many of you came to Capitol Hill to speak with your members of congress about how the CDC Epilepsy Program has affected your life or the life of your loved one.

Your stories and actions were moving and assisted our champions in the congress to make the case to the appropriators. You asked Members to sign the Dear Colleague letters in the Senate and House, and many members did! This action went a long way in convincing the Chairman that there are many members of congress who care about epilepsy.

The subcommittee bill will now move to the full appropriations committee for approval next week and then to the House floor. The Senate will likely begin work on a similar bill in July.

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