My Congressman wrote me back about P!

[Sophie2007]

Well, I just thought I'd share this email I got today... a while back, I wrote to my Congressman- Ted Strickland - about funding for psoriasis and psoriasis arthritis...

Dear Ms. [mylastnamehere]:

Thank you for contacting me regarding funding for psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis. I appreciate hearing from you.

I share your concerns about the effects of arthritis. The House recently passed a Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (LHHS) Appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2006, which provides $513 million in funding for the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS). This is level with the Bush Administration's FY2006 request, and a slight increase over FY2005's appropriation of $511 million. The Senate LHHS Appropriations bill would provide $525 million for NIAMS. A House-Senate conference committee must now reconcile the differences between the two bills. Please be assured that I will keep your views in mind when the final version of the LHHS Appropriations bill comes before me for a vote.

You might also be interested in the bill H.R. 583, the Arthritis Prevention, Control, and Cure Act. This bill would call for the implementation of a National Arthritis Action Plan to promote arthritis and rheumatic disease research. The bill would also require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to award grants for arthritis research projects, including juvenile arthritis research. H.R. 583 has been referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce for review. As a member of that Committee, I look forward to learning more about this bill.

Again, thank you for taking the time to contact me. If I may be of assistance to you in the future, please do not hesitate to let me know.

Sincerely,

Ted Strickland
Member of Congress

<b>Anyway</b> just thought ya'll might like to see it. Did anyone else get stuff back?

Sophie

[cordiod]

Wonderful news Sophie!

How great that you received a response from your Congressman. I am curious, did you contact him with the Local Lobby Week materials or make your own means of contacting him?

I have not heard anything yet (not really holding my breath though) from my Congressman - Tom Lantos but I dropped off the Local Lobby Week materials to his office.

Keep up the good work.

[ouchyk]

Sophie,

That's awesomel!!

If you can, you might want to contact Sheila Rittenburg ( Advocacy NPF ) and tell her of this letter ( in case she doesn't see it here ). It's always great to have a representative behind you, it makes it easier when we go to DC to ask for help.

You're a peach! Thanks, for helping! :)
Karen

[Photochick66]

Great job Sophie! congrats on getting a letter back. :)
x0x
Nemo

[richardv]

Glad you got some feedback, I'm sorry to say that I recieved no word from the powers to be here in Washington State :mad:

[PJ Leary]

Hi Sophie,

great job! See, folks, it does work!

The squeaky wheel and all.

Regards,

[MichaelaCFP]

No matter what the results will be - you have taken personal action to benefit all "P sufferers."

By the way, was there a solicitation of any type included?

I'm just curious as I wrote a letter to Grumpy's wife (Elizabeth Dole) earlier in the year regarding a few ideas concerning Social Security. She followed up with a "thank you" and invited me to the Presidents Dinner (assuming that I would give a token gift of $2,000 to attend.)

I declined that once in a lifetime opportunity - as my Republican ideals are very inconsistent with the direction of the current administration.

Michael

[Kristenhrt]

That's great! It's so motivating to hear that others -especially legislators - are taking an active step. You must be expertly persuasive!

[MikeK]

That's great, Sophie!

It's nice to know that your efforts to try to raise awareness of both psoriasis and PA are paying off!

Well done! :cool:

Mike

[TerpRubin]

(I wonder which of his lackeys had to write it, all the time thinking, "what the heck is psoriasis ... but then, I'm a bit cynical. :) )

[SandraJean]

That's great!! So glad to hear you got a response. It makes it all worth it and one by one we will let them know of psoriaisis and psoratic arthritis.

Thanks,

Sandy

[chaimFL]

The letter was nicely written and a great achievment for your work. Making our Congress people aware of psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis it allows them to recognize the diseases by name in any bill that may come along, and that is very important.

Great work Sophie!

[Actress]

Righ on! You go girl. It renews hope in congress that they really do care about the american public, and their welfare. Congrats on your success! Rock On! a.

[RichJ]

hi sophie,
that's wonderful news.

have a good night all

richard

[mdgirl]

That is so good to hear!!! Maybe more will follow suit.

[2sense]

(I wonder which of his lackeys had to write it, all the time thinking, "what the heck is psoriasis ... but then, I'm a bit cynical. :) )

actually... the 'Senator's Aide's' write most of their letters, When I lived in Atlanta, I dated a girl who was an Aide to the democratic head of the senate at the time, and she would have to read his mail, get his opinion, then research the topics, AND keep him informed of what is going on..


:D

[KerBear]

First of all, congratulations, Sophie, on receiving a letter back from your congressman. That is a great thing.

However, while I don't mean to rain on anyone's parade, am I the only one that noticed his letter says NOTHING about psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis save from the first sentence? The rest of the letter talks only of arthritis in general. Yes, this funding is going to NIAMS, which clearly includes psoriasis research, but how much of this funding will go to that? If you look at the last paragraph of the letter, it speaks of arthritis bills that are being looked at, not psoriasis bills. Now, I don't know what the context of your letter was, perhaps it was based more around PA, but not everyone with p has PA. Additionally, do people in the arthritis field think about PA? Or even take it seriously? Like I said before, I don't mean to rain on anyone's parade, but I feel like this letter does not touch on the topic at hand here as fully as it should, and I feel like we need to be careful that our vision is not clouded by "just" a response to ensure that we are actually receiving the research and funding for p.

Congratulations again, Sophie. It takes a lot of time and energy to craft a letter to a Congressman, and clearly yours was prominent enough to receive a response. :)

[Sophie2007]

Ker...

I hear you! I don't have PA and I noticed the letter was focused on that; I'm not too disheartened though. I notice how NIAMS is going to get 500-something million [if it goes through] and certainly that much money can make a difference, right? the PA bit was added on at the end, I think so that both subjects were covered...

I'm just excited that maybe someone, somewhere is going to start sending money to where it's needed. :) And we all know that's US!!!

Sophie

[raydon14yp]

I, too, wrote to my congressman. I received NO reply. I am going to write him again & this time ask him why he did not at least acknowledge receiving it.