The Senate Appropriations Committee will be voting this week on legislation to increase funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) by 6.7 percent for fiscal year 2008.

As most of you know, the NIH is the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting medical research.

As a member of a coalition working to ensure the NIH has the funds it needs to continue to investigate new treatments and modalities for people with respiratory conditions, the AARC is asking all of its members to step up and support this very important increase by calling their Senators in support.

You can quickly and easily find the telephone numbers for your Senators by calling the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121. Ask for your Senators by name, or if you are unsure of your Senators' names, ask for them by state. Once you are connected to your Senator's office, ask to speak to the Senator's health legislative assistant.

If you must leave a voice mail, state your name and that you are a respiratory therapist from the Senator's home state, and leave a number where the staff member can return your call.

If you are able to speak directly with the staff member, identify yourself as a respiratory therapist from your hometown and state that you are calling to urge your Senator to support the 6.7 percent increase in funding for the NIH contained in the Fiscal Year 2008 Labor-Health and Human Services (Labor-HHS) Appropriations bill.

Here are some talking points to assist you in making a good case for the increased funding:

-- Without additional funding, the NIH will receive a funding cut because annual funding levels are not keeping pace with inflation.

-- Without increased funding, the NIH will be unable to adequately respond to the explosion in biomedical research opportunities and to the public's desire for continued progress in solving complex diseases.

-- More research is desperately needed in the area of COPD, which has been scandalously under-funded in recent years despite the fact COPD is the fourth major cause of death. Ask your Senators to support a mandate calling for the NIH specifically to increase funding for COPD research.

You may also e-mail your Senators by going to the AARC's Capitol Connection and putting your zip code into the search box.

American Association for Respiratory Care