A Letter to Advocates.
Dear Advocates,
As you may have heard, the FY2024 Appropriations process has finally been completed with the passage of a 2nd Consolidated appropriations package by the Congress and the President signing into law on Saturday, March 23rd. The package includes funding for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Department of Defense, the two agencies we requested funding increases. In a year of over $3 billion in cuts to HHS in the final FY24 Appropriations and no increase (a cut when inflation is factored in) to the HHS NIH National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases that funds Lyme and tickborne disease research, we are pleased to announce the following increases for Lyme and tickborne conditions:
+$5M for LymeX Innovation Accelerator
+$1M for Kay Hagan Tick Act
+$1M for CDC Lyme and Tickborne Disease Prevention Programs
The $5M for LymeX is particularly satisfying because, as many of you repeat advocates know, it’s been on our list of appropriations requests since the very beginning to fund the Federal program management component of this critical program which is focused on developing a reliable diagnostic for Lyme. We are grateful for this support to supplement the generous donation by the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation that funds Lyme diagnostic challenges in the Department of Health and Human Services. Read more about the Phase II winners.
Thank you to every advocate for your wonderful work since our first Fly-In in February 2020!
Your total impact on the FY21 – FY24 Lyme and tickborne disease federal funding is an astonishing $405.5M. NIH TBD funding in FY24 is expected to be nearly 4 times the FY21 funding – from $39M in FY21 to $119M in FY24.
Our work is not over but congratulations to all!
Below is the detailed summary of our ongoing work to increase federal funding for Lyme and tickborne diseases. You can also get more details on each appropriations increase by reading further.
Best regards,
Bonnie, Jeff, and Meghan
DIVISION D – DEPARTMENTS OF LABOR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, AND EDUCATION, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2024
https://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20240318/Division%20D%20LHHS.pdf
Page 21
CDC Lyme
Page 41
NIH NIAID
Page 70
LymeX Innovation Accelerator
DIVISION A – DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2024
https://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20240318/Division%20A%20Defense.PDF
Page 109B
Tickborne Disease Research Program
