Please Read: Individual Advocacy Effort

General Information: The meeting with Senator Mikulski's Staff went very well. The Senator has and will continue to make funding for NIH one of her top priorities. She will continue to defend it from potential upcoming budget cuts. However, I also learned that broader, non-partisan efforts have to be made in order for IC funding and research to be pushed forward/maintained. We need support from multiple Senators, specifically those on the Senate Appropriations Committee to see that federal funding for medical research does not get reduced and that a larger portion is allocated to the NIH's Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). That particular institute distributes millions of dollars in grants to research centers around the US seeking to find the cure to/cause of IC. Request to Signers: For the sake of everyone suffering from chronic diseases in need of more research and funding, not just IC, please send the FORM LETTER THAT WILL BE SENT TO YOU IN THE NEXT PETITION UPDATE (or write your own personal letter) to your Senator and/or the following relevant Senators (due to their positions on the Senate Appropriations Committee) after filling it out. Feel free to add your own thoughts to the form letter as well. It will not take much of your time and at the very least, due to your letter, one more person will be aware of IC. At most, your letter would be a very important step towards the early diagnosis, understanding, and cure of IC. We need to find the strength in ourselves to advocate because change is not going to happen without us and our individual efforts. Thank you. If any of your state Senators are on the Senate Appropriations Committee (SAC), it is especially important that you contact them. Due to the recent election, here are the known future SAC members who will remain on the committee after January 2015: Committee Chairman (Starting January 2015): Thad Cochran (R - Mississippi) Democratic Members: Mikulski, Barbara A. (MD) Leahy, Patrick J. (VT) Murray, Patty (WA) Feinstein, Dianne (CA) Durbin, Richard J. (IL) Reed, Jack (RI) Tester, Jon (MT) Udall, Tom (NM) Shaheen, Jeanne (NH) Merkley, Jeff (OR) Coons, Christopher A. (DE) Republican Members: McConnell, Mitch (KY) Alexander, Lamar (TN) Collins, Susan M. (ME) Murkowski, Lisa (AK) Graham, Lindsey (SC) Kirk, Mark (IL) Coats, Daniel (IN) Blunt, Roy (MO) Moran, Jerry (KS) Hoeven, John (ND) Johanns, Mike (NE) Boozman, John (AR)