Three letters expressing Congressional support for making CFS research a higher NIH priority were recently sent to Dr. Elias Zerhouni, director of the National Institutes of Health. Advocates participating in the CFIDS Association's 15th Annual Lobby Day and 4th Annual Virtual Lobby Day asked members of Congress to support this request. Their work and persistent follow-up yielded important results. Thank you to all who participated!

The Senate letter, led by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and mailed on June 15, reflected support from 12 members of the U.S. Senate. Click http://www.cfids.org/advocacy/senate07.pdf to view. A list of those who signed is printed below. A joint House letter, led by U.S. Representatives Jan Schakowsky (D-IL-9) and Sue Myrick (R-NC-9), was supported by a total of 34 members of the House. The letter, sent to Dr. Zerhouni on June 25, can be viewed at http://www.cfids.org/advocacy/house07.pdf.

The following members of the Senate signed on to the letter:

Sponsor: Harry Reid (NV)
Joe Biden (DE)
Sherrod Brown (OH)
Ben Cardin (MD)
Dick Durbin (IL)
Frank Lautenberg (NJ)
Barack Obama (IL)
Robert Menendez (NJ)
Jack Reed (RI)
Bernie Sanders (VT)
Charles Schumer (NY)
Sheldon Whitehouse (RI)

The following members of the U.S. House signed this group letter:

Sponsors: Jan Schakowsky (IL) and Sue Myrick (NC)
Robert Andrews (NJ)
Robert Brady (PA)
Lois Capps (CA)
Elijah Cummings (MD)
Danny Davis (IL)
Thomas Davis (VA)
Susan Davis (CA)
Nathan Deal (GA)
Mike Doyle (PA)
Eliot Engel (NY)
Michael Ferguson (NJ)
Jim Gerlach (PA)
Gene Green (TX)
Raul Grijalva (AZ)
Ralph Hall (TX)
Rush Holt (NJ)
Patrick Kennedy (RI)
Ron Klein (FL)
Dennis Kucinich (OH)
John Lewis (GA)
Michael McNulty (NY)
James P. Moran (VA)
Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC)
Ron Paul (TX)
Joseph Pitts (PA)
Ileana Ros Lehtinen (FL)
Tim Ryan (OH)
Allyson Schwartz (PA)
Edolphus Towns (NY)
Chris Van Hollen (MD)
Mel Watt (NC)
Robert Wexler (FL)

Rep. Chaka Fattah (PA) sent a third letter to Dr. Zerhouni on June 26, and Rep. Jim Saxton sent a letter on June 29. Those letters, and others from members of Congress to public health officials are archived at http://www.cfids.org/advocacy/congressional-letters.asp.

Advocates living in these states and districts received an Alert asking them to send a message of thanks to the members of Congress who expressed their support of CFS to Dr. Zerhouni. If your elected officials didn't sign any of the letters, you can use the Action Alert at http://capwiz.com/cfids/issues/alert/?alertid=8744851&type=CO to ask them to send their own letter of support.

Thanks to all who worked together to achieve this important show of support. We will keep you posted on our follow up with NIH officials and their response.

K. Kimberly McCleary
President & CEO
The CFIDS Association of America