Congressional Meetings Recap

February 09 2011

Posted in Advocacy

NF, Inc. visited Washington on January 31st and February 1st, meeting with many Congressional offices.  Here’s the basic outcome of those meetings:

This is going to be a very tight year for any funding. Discretionary spending in particular is really under tight watch, which could impact our programs.  One thing that may help us is that our program is funded through the Department of Defense, which may be less severely impacted than others.

We’re early in the game.  Final funding have not been determined.  One option has been to take all spending back to 2008 levels across the board (excepting defense and homeland security), which would halve NF research funding. Others are taking a more nuanced view and realize critical programs like NF should be more protected.

With one exception, staffers we talked with were very appreciative of what we had to say, and particularly appreciated the letters from our members.  Staffers were clearly impacted by the personal stories.  Continued personal contact from constituents to their elected officials will be critical for NF funding.

In the case of the one exception, the staffer basically told us that any funding under the Department of Defense needs to go away - “It isn’t relevant to defense” - and we did not make much progress on that front.  Hopefully, this is a new member and he isn’t on the key committees.  But we need to be aware of risks.

Right now, funding for the research is under a continuing resolution since no 2011 budget was passed.  As a result, current programs are under way, but no new research grants are being initiated. 

So, what’s the big take away?  All of us need to be in touch with our representatives to ensure NF funding stays in place.  We at NF, Inc. will try to do our part by keeping everyone posted on developments so you are aware of what’s happening, but we will need your help to make sure programs stay funded.