ACTION ALERT: FY12 Defense Authorization Bill, CDMRP Funding in Subcommittee Next Week

Defense Bill Coming Up Next Week in the House

The House Armed Services Military Personnel Subcommittee will draft its version of the FY2012 Defense Authorization bill next week.   Funding for the acclaimed Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program (CDMRP) is funded under the Defense spending bill.  The full House Armed Services Committee is expected to take up the bill the following week.

Now is the time to contact your U.S. representative and ask for their support to include provisions in the defense bill that would authorize a desperately needed increase in funding for the CDMRP’s Gulf War Illness Research Program.

FY11 funding for the CDMRP was steady from previous years at $8 million.  With the need to fund  as many as three consortia, in addition to treatment and other studies, a significant expansion in funding for the FY12 CDMRP peer-reviewed Gulf War Illness Research Program is really needed. 

In 2009, the VA’s Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans’ Illnesses (RAC-GWVI) recommended annual funding at $40 million.  Even still, funding has fallen far short of that realistic goal.

The Senate has consistently “authorized” spending on the program of $12 million, but the House has not yet “authorized” the program, making it that much harder to get annual “appropriations” for the program when that rolls around next. 

An authorization level of $40 million from the House would be ideal.