Contact Your Senators by May 6, 2021 & Urge Them to Sign Casey-Burr NIH Letter

A “Dear Colleague” letter is being circulated in the U.S. Senate for senators to sign to support increased NIH funding. The letter is for U.S. senators only to sign, not U.S. Representatives, state lawmakers, ATS members, or anyone else. The deadline for senators to sign the letter is May 6, 2021, so you must contact your senators by this date.

Sens. Bob Casey (D-PA) and Richard Burr (R-NC) have authored a bipartisan letter to the Senate Appropriations Committee urging them to support increased funding for the NIH in 2022. The more senators who sign the letter, the better for NIH funding.

This is a time-sensitive request so the fastest way to contact your senators is to call them using the Capitol Switchboard (instructions below). But you may also send an email through the ATS website (insert your zip code). Congressional letters in circulation cannot be posted on websites but you do not need to have the Casey-Burr letter – your senator’s staff will know what you are referring to.

How to Contact Your Senators:

Call the Capitol Switchboard at 1-202-224-3121 and ask for your senator’s office. When you are connected to an office, ask for the Health Legislative Assistant. If they say that they have already signed the letter, you can thank the senator for his/her support!

If they have not yet signed, you can also use the following script for reference:

I am a constituent and a [health care provider/researcher]

at [your health care/research institution] from [your town] and I am calling to urge [Senator ____] to sign the bipartisan Casey/Burr NIH letter.

The NIH is the world’s leader in biomedical health research that translates into advancements for the prevention, treatment, and cure of diseases such as COVID-19, COPD, and asthma. But in order to sustain innovative scientific research that saves lives, the NIH budget must continue to grow. Please sign the Casey/Burr letter supporting NIH funding. Thank you.