Friday, February 09, 2007
Joe, a reader of JHB, says : --[johnhanblog] 2/09/2007 05:47:32 PM
Date: Fri, 9 Feb 2007 14:47:33 -0800 (PST)
Joe says:
Show us the Money – Act now!Congress passed the Combating Autism Act
but hasn’t put any money behind it. We only have until next week to
act, or wait until October 1, the start of FY 08.The Combating Autism
Act (Public Law 109-416) authorizes $1.147 billion to be spent on
research, education and awareness. ($147 million this year and $1
billion over the next 4 years) most of the funds go to the National
Institutes of Health (NIH), Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). But none of these
agencies have appropriations for the current fiscal year (FY 07). Next
week Congress must pass a continuing resolution to keep all federal
government agencies running, except the Department of Homeland Security
(DHS) and most of Defense, the only two agencies with appropriations
this year.The continuing resolution, as it stands now, allows for
increased funding for some federal agencies and programs, including NIH,
but there is no mention of Autism. (There is a proposal to increase
funding for TB, Malaria and HIV/AIDS overseas, other countries’ health
problems. There is also a supplement request for this year to spend more
than $1 billion per week in Iraq.)Authorization without appropriation
means no money can be spent. Increased spending for Autism will have to
wait until the start of the new fiscal year, October 1.Write to your
senators and representative now, call them, raise some hell.
--
Posted by Joe to johnhanblog at 2/09/2007 05:47:32 PM
