Tell Congress: Fund Lung Health Programs

Congress just passed historic investments in cleaning up air pollution, addressing climate change and ensuring access to quality and affordable healthcare with the Inflation Reduction Act. Now, we’re asking them to ensure federal agencies have the resources they need to make all those investments a success.  

The federal government does a lot of lifesaving work for lung health, like research at the National Institutes of Health, youth vaping prevention, asthma data collection and intervention programs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and air quality monitoring at the Environmental Protection Agency. And now, they also need to implement the Inflation Reduction Act. For all that to happen, Congress has to craft and vote on bills every year that fund the federal government’s staff, programs and projects, called appropriations bills. 

Although every Congress runs into challenges while negotiating appropriations bills, they are must-pass legislation. We put a high priority on ensuring that lung health priorities are robustly funded in these bills. Join us in urging Congress to pass appropriations bills for the next fiscal year that include key investments in lung health across the federal government.

Recipients

  • Your Senators
  • Your Representative

Contact

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Message

Urge Congress to pass funding bills to prioritize lung health.

Dear [Decision Maker],

I am asking you to support strong funding for lung health in the Fiscal Year 2023 appropriations bills. My health, my family's health and the millions of people living with a lung disease rely on programs that are funded through these bills. Agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) depend on robust, predictable funding to carry out the responsibilities of protecting health.


I urge you to support topline funding of $11 billion for CDC, $49 billion for NIH and $11.9 billion for EPA. I also urge you to support robust funding for programs that promote lung health, including:

* $40 million for CDC's National Asthma Control Program

* $310 million for CDC's Office of Smoking and Health

* $6 million for CDC's Chronic Disease Education and Awareness Program

* $500 million for EPA's State and Local Air Quality Management Grants

* $33 million for EPA's Tribal Air Quality Management Grants


I am also calling on you and your colleagues to pass the appropriations bills without the inclusion of harmful policy riders, especially any that could undermine key public health laws like the Tobacco Control Act or the Clean Air Act.


Additionally, I caution against any delay in passing the FY23 appropriations bills. When agencies like CDC and EPA are asked to operate under a continuing resolution, critical programs that protect my and my family's health are left without needed resources to expand their impact. I am asking you to support timely consideration of funding bills that leads to final passage as soon as possible.

Thank you.
[Your Name]
[Your Address]
[City, State ZIP]
[Your Email]