Appropriations season is moving fast this year, and we are proud to share that Solve M.E. has submitted our FY27 appropriations letters to both the House and Senate Labor-HHS and Defense Appropriations Subcommittees in partnership with #NotJustFatigue and #MEAction. We are asking Congress to take meaningful action on three fronts this year.
Appropriations priorities are decided based largely upon how many Members of Congress sign on to the Dear Colleague letters. Sen. Markey and Rep. Lofgren will be leading our efforts this year, and we need to reach out to as many of our Members of Congress as possible to ask them to sign on to the letters this year.
We need your help – take action here.
Details on our asks this year:
CDC’s CHRONIC FATIGUE SYNDROME PROGRAM
We are asking for a $10 million funding increase to bring the CDC’s Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Program to $15.4 million. This program has operated on stagnant funding since 1996, and as the number of people with Long COVID who now meet the criteria for ME/CFS keeps growing, increasing the funding level makes this more urgent than ever.
KEEPING ME/CFS AS AN ELIGIBLE TOPIC AREA IN THE PEER-REVIEWED MEDICAL RESEARCH PROGRAM
Solve is asking for continued inclusion of ME/CFS as an eligible topic area in the Peer-Reviewed Medical Research Program at the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program (CDMRP). This Department of Defense program has been a critical source of ME/CFS research funding, and we are working to protect and maintain it.
NIH ME/CFS RESEARCH ROADMAP
We are cosponsoring the NIH Roadmap effort being spearheaded by #NotJustFatigue and #MEAction. They are leading a joint ask for $50 million within the NIH Office of the Director to fund implementation of the ME/CFS Research Roadmap. This money would provide the resources needed to move from plan to action on biomarker discovery, diagnostic tools, and clinical trials. Congress took an important first step in FY26 by recognizing the Roadmap. FY27 is the moment to fund it.
THESE ASKS ARE STRONGER WITH LOCAL SUPPORT
If your organization would like to be listed as a supporting organization on any of these appropriations submissions, please reach out to us directly at advocacy@solvecfs.org. All we need is your organization name, address, and a point of contact.
And if you haven’t already, please join us for Advocacy Week 2026, where we will be amplifying these asks along with launching a state-based medical education initiative in partnership with #MEAction. Our medical education focus this year will use letter writing and sign-on letters to reframe medical providers’ lack of training in ME/CFS as a patient safety and healthcare quality issue.
We’ll be reaching out to Patient Safety & Regulatory Agencies, State Medical Boards, and State Health Leadership to win them over to our side and work together towards getting ME/CFS questions added to national licensure pathways and examinations.
This year will be fully virtual and less meeting-focused, with just one Zoom call per day, so that we can take our daily actions together.
Register for Advocacy Week 2026 here.
Thank you for everything you do for this community. These efforts carry more weight when our community shows up together.