Your Support Needed for Sleep Research Funding

October 23, 2007

The House and Senate will soon start hammering out their differences in 2008 funding for various agencies of the federal government. Of particular interest to the respiratory community is next year’s budget for sleep research at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The House and Senate will enter conference negotiations to determine whether they will provide $1 million for sleep research, education, and intervention programs at the CDC. The House version of the Labor, Health & Human Services (HHS) appropriations bill includes this funding, but the Senate version does not.

The AARC and the National Sleep Foundation are advocating for this important increase in funding for sleep research. All AARC members are being asked to e-mail their Senators and Representatives to urge them to support the $1 million for sleep-related activities at the CDC in the FY 2008 Labor-HHS Appropriations Conference Report.

“Respiratory therapists have been providing sleep diagnostics and therapeutics to patients for decades,” notes AARC Director of Government Affairs Cheryl West. “This is the time when you can contact your members of Congress and voice your support for increased sleep disorder research.”

To write to your Senators and Representatives, go to the AARC’s Capitol Connection and put your zip code into the search box. You’ll receive a list of all of your members of Congress, along with direct links to their e-mail addresses.

This is a brief message you might consider sending:

I am a respiratory therapist and your constituent and I am writing to ask that you support $1 million for sleep-related activities at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the FY 2008 Labor-HHS Appropriations Conference Report. Currently, the House Appropriations Report includes both this funding and language calling on the CDC to support surveillance and education initiatives, while the Senate version of the bill only contains similar language. Rep. Susan Davis (Calif.) has circulated a sign-on letter in support of the House's funding.  I ask that you add your name to this letter by contacting Patricia Zavala in Rep. Davis's office at (202) 225-2040 or patricia.zavala@mail.house.gov.

It estimated that sleep-related problems affect 50 to 70 million Americans of all ages and socioeconomic classes.  The cumulative effects of sleep loss and sleep disorders have been associated with a wide range of health consequences, including hypertension, diabetes, obesity, depression, heart attack, stroke, and at-risk behaviors.  We cannot appropriately address these problems if we do not consider how chronic sleep loss contributes to them.

I hope you will support funding for sleep programs at the CDC when the House and Senate Subcommittees meet to negotiate a final appropriations bill. 

Thank you,

YOUR NAME AND ADDRESS