May 22, 2019

Ask Your Senators to Support the Establishment of a Sleep Disorders Education and Awareness Program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

By Kris Schanilec

The US Senate is crafting its spending bill for medical research, public health, and professional education programs for the Fiscal Year 2020. Your help is needed by June 4th to ensure the government provides funding for vital public health activities on healthy sleep and sleep disorders through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Senators need to hear from you, their constituents, that sleep disorders are a serious issue and that it is important to improve public health in this area.

Background

Each year, Congress crafts the annual appropriations bills that include funding and recommendations for all federal programs. The Senate is set to work on its Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 spending bill for medical research, public health, and professional education programs—The Labor, Health and Human Services, Education (LHHS) Appropriations Bill—in early June. Before the Senate is a request to establish a $250,000 program specifically for public health activities focused on healthy sleep and sleep disorders at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) through the FY 2020 LHHS Appropriations Bill. The Senate has many competing funding opportunities and limited resources, but Senators will support this program if they are asked to do so by you, their constituents.

A dedicated sleep disorders program at the CDC would be a timely and meaningful investment of resources for a variety of reasons, including:

• The CDC supported a successful sleep program for over 10 years before abruptly ending the program late last year, citing a lack of available funding.
• The CDC tends to support public health initiatives that impact large portions of the community (such as obesity or smoking cessation), so it is unusual that they do not have an active program on healthy sleep and sleep disorders.

Take Action

• Identify your two Senators by going to www.Senate.gov and selecting the “Senators” tab and then clicking on “Contact.”
• Reach out to the DC offices of both Senators (the 202 number) and ask for the “Health LA” that handles healthcare issues for the Senator.
• Use the script below to leave a voice mail message or to send an e-mail to the Health LA.

Dear [Health LA],

My name is [Your Name] and I am a constituent from [Your State], as well as an advocate for the sleep and sleep disorders community. I am contacting you today to ask that your office please support the community’s request to establish a $250,000 sleep disorders public health program at the CDC through the FY 2020 Senate LHHS Appropriations Bill. Sleep disorders can be serious and sometimes costly conditions that can lead to negative health outcomes. Congress should help the CDC reinvigorate critical sleep activities and once again improve public health in this area.

Thank you for your time and your consideration of this request.

Sincerely, [Your Name] [Your Address]

PRIORITY STATES

If you are from one of the states listed below, please send your name and full address to the RLS Foundation’s Washington representative Peter Herzog at herzog@hmcw.org or (202) 544-7499 before Tuesday, June 4th for additional action!

Alabama Alaska Arkansas California Connecticut Delaware Florida Hawaii Illinois Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Mississippi Missouri Montana New Hampshire New Mexico North Dakota Oklahoma Oregon Rhode Island South Carolina Tennessee Vermont Washington West Virginia