On Tuesday November 13th, President Bush vetoed the FY08 Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Bill sent to him by Congress last week.  This legislation contains important funding increases for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):

a)   $30 billion for the NIH (an increase of $1.1 billion or 3.8% over last year).  President Bush's budget calls for a cut in NIH funding in inflation adjusted dollars.

b)  Continued funding of $680,000 for the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Epidemiology Program at the CDC.  This program is yielding invaluable information regarding the unique demographic characteristics of the IBD patient population in the U.S.

The House of Representatives is expected to vote to override the president's veto on Thursday or Friday of this week. It is important that all CCFA members contact their representative in the House and urge them to vote YES on the Labor-HHS-Education veto override. A two-thirds majority vote is required to override a presidential veto. If the President's veto is not overridden, NIH and CDC may have to operate under a year-long continuing resolution that will provide no funding increases.

To contact your member of the House please visit www.house.gov or call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 225-3121.

Thank you!