National Community Call-in/Tweet Day

2012-09-20

Funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is in serious jeopardy.  The White House has released a report indicating that beginning in January 2013 the NIH and other programs will receive an 8.2 percent cut as a result of a budget tool known as "sequestration" unless Congress works together to prevent these cuts through a bipartisan, balanced approach to deficit reduction.  If sequestration is allowed to take effect, as many as 2,300 NIH grants could be eliminated. 

It is critical that all Representatives and Senators hear from researchers about the impact that inadequate funding has on medical research and the need to take a balanced approach to reducing the deficit that doesn't further cut NIH and other core federal programs.  Please join ASHin a National Community Call-in/Tweet Day to urge your Senators and Representative to support a balanced approach to deficit reduction.  Quick and easy directions for how to call Congress, plus a message, is included below.  If you are on Twitter, you are also encouraged to tweet about this and sample tweets follow.

How to Call Your Members of Congress: 

Simply call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected to the offices of your Senators and Representative. You can also go to www.Congress.org, enter your zip code, and look up the names of your Senators and Representative to find the offices' direct phone numbers.

Suggested Talking Points for Calls to Congressional Offices 

  • Introduce yourself and your title and where you are from:  My name is _____ and I am _____from _____.
  • I am calling because I am very concerned about sequestration.  If the sequester goes into effect January 2, 2013, funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), along with other federally funded programs, will be drastically cut.
  • For the NIH specifically, these cuts will mean that as many as 2,300 research grants could be eliminated, jobs will be lost, our status as a global leader in innovation and competitiveness will be compromised, and treatments and cures for diseases such as leukemia, lymphoma, and sickle cell disease, could be delayed.
  • I urge Representative _____ (or Senator _____) to work with congressional colleagues to find a bipartisan, balanced approach to deficit reduction that does not include further cuts to essential jobs and services, such as the NIH.

How to Tweet Your Members of Congress: 

For a complete list of Members of Congress and their Twitter handles, as well as other social media accounts, please see these House & Senate lists. Learn more about Twitter and how to fully utilize the site. 

Suggested Tweets 

  1. Invest in strong biomedical research and recognize the value of the NIH, [insert Member Twitter handle]. Support balance to stop #sequestration! #NDDUnited.
     
  2. Remember [insert Member Twitter handle], @ASH_hematology and over 3000 groups want you to support a balanced approach to stop #sequestration! http://bit.ly/N2jgsB #NDDUnited
     
  3. #Sequestration devastates NIH and biomedical research. [insert Member Twitter handle],find a balanced solution! #NDDUnited
     
  4. #Sequestration means an 8.2% cut to #NIH funding in 2013. [insert Member Twitter handle], support a balanced approach! http://bit.ly/N2jgsB #NDDUnited

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