Thank you for your patience and for standing with Solve M.E. and our advocacy partners during a particularly turbulent year. Despite unprecedented obstacles, we accomplished victories and produced dollars for ME/CFS research.
Though the future of ME/CFS funding in Congress remains uncertain, here’s what we know for sure:
- We Broke Records for Advocacy Day
Despite transitioning from in-person to virtual events in just 6 weeks, our Solve ME/CFS Advocacy Day was the biggest yet. With 358 people participating, we spoke to 251 congressional offices, educating 47% of Congress in a single day. - From Department of Defense, over $500,000 in new ME/CFS research investments
After three years of hard work and over 10,000 community emails to Congress, Solve M.E. successfully added ME/CFS as an eligible topic area for the Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program (PRMRP). This program received $350 million in FY 2020, for which ME/CFS researchers submitted seven compliant applications. Two applications were funded, totaling over $547,000 in new federal ME/CFS research funding. - HR 7057 gains an additional 4 cosponsors
Rep. Jamie Raskin’s landmark legislation, H.R. 7057, The Understanding COVID-19 and ME/CFS Subsets Act, will be the first piece of legislation to authorize funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for ME/CFS research and education.As of November 12, H.R. 7057 has an impressive 51 co-sponsors, including three new Democrats (Rep. Mark DeSaulnier [D-CA-11], Rep Suzanne Bonamici [D-OR-1], Rep. Lizzie Fletcher [D-TX-7]) and one new Republican (Rep. Ann Wagner [R-MO-2]). - ME/CFS will return to FY21 Defense research programs
We’ve covered all our bases so that no matter what happens with this crazy year, ME/CFS will still be part of the FY21 PRMRP next year. Stay tuned for program announcements, research teams! The FY21 topic areas are expected to be publicly announced in late January 2021. - The CDC ME/CFS Program will remain
Despite the administration’s recommendation to defund the program, AT LEAST $5.4 million will be funded for the chronic fatigue syndrome program at CDC. Hopefully, more!
Several other congressional efforts are still in progress and we are racing against time to finalize them before the end of this “lame duck” session on December 11. We’ll be watching developments closely. Please stay tuned for more updates when we learn more in the coming weeks.
Thank you for all of your calls, emails and support. We couldn’t do this important work without you.
