Since the launch of JDRF’s Promise to Remember Me campaign in August 2009, JDRF Advocates have completed over 300 meetings with Members of Congress.
The Promise Campaign is a coordinated effort to schedule and complete as many meetings as possible between representatives and senators and their constituents in their local districts. In addition to building relationships with federal lawmakers, it allows JDRF to continue the momentum and messaging established through the JDRF Children’s Congress event.
For months now, JDRF advocates have met with legislators in their home distric offices to help them understand the importance of funding type 1 diabetes research by renewing the Special Diabetes Program (SDP), which funds approximately 35% of type 1 diabetes research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Because of these meetings, the legislation to renew the SDP (H.R. 3668 in the House of Representatives and S. 3058 in the Senate) has had some early success. 93 House members and 16 Senators have already shown their support by signing on as cosponsors of the SDP legislation.
The Promise Campaign will continue to push forward to its goal of 400 meetings by May 1, 2010.
You can help JDRF reach its goal of 400 meetings by May 1, 2010, by encouraging those that are coordinating the meetings. Simply click the video and you can also Leave a Message of Encouragement! To leave a note of encouragement click here: http://bit.ly/9HEP1.
The annual JDRF Government Day on March 7-9, 2010, was a great success. Over 150 JDRF Advocates, from across the country – including representation from JDRF Bay Area – met in Washington for three days of legislative updates, training, and more than 400 meetings on Capitol Hill.
In their address to the Advocates, Alan Lewis and Aaron Kowalski reported on JDRF’s research progress and underscored the urgency and importance of the Advocates’ work to convince Congress to renew the Special Diabetes Program – JDRF’s top legislative priority this year.
On March 2, 2010, diabetes champions in the Senate introduced legislation (S. 3058) to renew the Special Diabetes Program, which is JDRF’s top legislative priority for 2010. The legislation would provide $200 million annually through fiscal year 2016 for the Special Diabetes Program, which funds critical type 1 diabetes research at the NIH.
Established by Congress in 1997, the Special Diabetes Program consists of two parts – research funding for type 1 diabetes and diabetes treatment and education programs for Native American populations. The program is currently funded at $150 million annually through fiscal year 2011 for each of the program’s two parts.
The Special Diabetes Program is a unique research program administered by the NIH and is focused on finding a cure for type 1 diabetes and its complications.
The program represents 35% of the federal investment in type 1 diabetes research and has yielded significant research advances that are helping to improve the lives of people living with diabetes and prevent the onset of the disease in others.
A timely, multi-year renewal of the program will ensure the continuation of the large-scale clinical trials that are translating discoveries from the program’s early years into new treatments – and possibly a cure – for people with diabetes.
The Senate bill is a companion to H.R. 3668, legislation introduced in the House, which now has nearly 100 co-sponsors. JDRF advocates from across the country will be working with champions in the House and Senate to pass this renewal legislation this year.
JDRF advocates began calling their Members of Congress on March 2, 2010 to ask them to support type 1 diabetes research by cosponsoring the legislation to renew the Special Diabetes Program.
If you wish to call your legislators you may do so by clicking here.
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