The Coalition for Health Funding is the nation’s oldest and largest nonprofit alliance working to preserve public health investments in the best interest of all Americans. Our member organizations together represent more than 100 million patients, health care providers, public health professionals, and scientists. For more information about the Coalition and the public health continuum, please visit: www.aamc.org/advocacy/healthfunding.
Dear Health Advocate,
You have previously joined the Coalition for Health Funding in protecting the federal investment in public health, and we need your help now more than ever.
As you know, discretionary health funding faces an immediate and real threat. The House Appropriations Committee today unveiled its list of proposed cuts to FY 2011, including NIH, CDC, SAMHSA, and other important programs (health cuts provided below). The House is expected to vote on these cuts next week in advance of the March 4 expiration of the current continuing resolution. Congress has made it clear there are “no sacred cows;” every program is a target for cuts. And deeper cuts still may be on the way through the open floor amendment process.
The Coalition for Health Funding Board of Directors has prepared the attached materials to help you in mobilizing your grassroots and grasstops, and to ensure a coordinated, community-wide response to the discretionary funding cuts. Our congressional champions have made it clear: “divided we fail.” We are stronger if we speak with one voice, and if we shout at the same time.
To best help you mobilize quickly, I have attached:
1. Suggested talking points for a coordinated message: “cuts to health funding do more harm than good.” Please insert a sound bite specific to your organization’s funding priority and encourage your advocates to embellish with a personal story of how health funding impacts them. It’s helpful if you can tie this example to jobs that will be lost.
2. Suggested message for you to use in activating your grassroots.
3. Suggested message for you to use in educating/activating your organizations’ leadership.
The House is the immediate priority. Please activate your grassroots/tops in the following activities in preparation for the House floor vote expected next Thursday, February 17, and continue to put the pressure on when Members are back in the district during through the President’s Day recess (February 21-25):
· Send “call to action” with attached talking points and instructions to your grassroots/tops;
· Urge your grassroots/tops to make calls to Washington and district offices;
· Distribute your issue-specific one-pagers to all House offices;
· Urge grassroots/tops to draft Op Eds for local media—state capital papers, especially;
· If doing a Hill Day, incorporate the Coalition’s “cuts do more harm than good” message in your materials;
· Encourage hometown office visits during President’s Day recess (Feb. 21-25), and participation in scheduled town halls;
· Encourage grassroots/tops to sign up for elected officials’ e-newsletters to receive information about future events, including tele-town halls.
In activating your advocates, please consider the following tips from congressional staff:
· Phone calls are most effective; phone calls should come from an area code in the district.
· Congressional staff are NOT looking at faxes. Flyers and one-pagers should be distributed through Capitol mail room, or delivered in-person.
· Form e-mails (e.g., CapWiz) are not effective. E-mails should be sent from a constituent’s e-mail account directly to the health LA. The more personal, the better.
Our actions in the House now will help us refine our message and tactics when we turn our attention to the Senate. And pressure now will send a clear message to the House—particularly new Members of Congress—that constituents back home do in fact support health funding. This will help us in future budget fights for FY 2011 and beyond.
Any and all organizations and individuals that care about health funding are invited to join the Coalition for Health Funding in this campaign. Please feel free to share this message with your colleagues, your coalitions, and others who care about public health funding.
Please do not hesitate to contact me with questions.
Sincerely,
Emily J. Holubowich, MPP
Executive Director
Coalition for Health Funding
Talking Points
Making the Case for Public Health Investment
· I understand the challenge you face in reducing the deficit and balancing the budget. I share these goals.
· However, cuts to health funding do more harm than good.
· Federal health programs ensure that the food we eat, the water we drink, the drugs we take, and the air we breathe is safe; and that we’re prepared and protected in the event of a pandemic or other health threat.
· These programs also help Americans like me make informed choices and take personal responsibility for my health.
· Cuts to health funding will do more harm than good to me, my family, my community, and most importantly, to this nation. For example…
[PICK ONE BELOW OR INSERT YOUR PERSONAL STORY HERE. IF POSSIBLE, TIE TO JOBS]
· Cuts in research funding will limit our ability to discover cures for illness and disease, will eliminate jobs, and will jeopardize American innovation and competitiveness.
· Cuts in workforce training will jeopardize programs that prepare doctors, nurses, dentists, and other providers to care for patients. With fewer providers, seniors, children, and other Americans will wait longer for the care they need, and will probably get sicker while they wait. Sicker people are more likely to miss their jobs and need more expensive and more complicated care.
· An investment in health is an investment in our nation’s future. As your constituent, I ask that you please preserve the federal investment in health.
Tell Congress
Cuts to Health Funding Do More Harm Than Good
Funding for the public health programs and [INSERT YOUR FUNDING PRIORITY] face an unprecedented and immediate threat. The House next week will vote to finalize funding levels for fiscal year (FY) 2011. [INSESRT YOUR FUNDING PRIORITY] could see as much as a 20 percent cut, or be eliminated altogether.
What happens next week will set the stage for future budget debates. If proposed cuts to FY 2011 are enacted, [INSERT YOUR FUNDING PRIORITY] will be jeopardized and it will take years to recover.
Members of Congress need to hear from the American people that cuts in health funding do more harm than good. We ask that you contact your elected officials now to communicate the value of funding for [INSERT YOUR FUNDING PRIORITY] and public health programs to you, your family, your community, and our nation.
Attached are suggested talking points to help you make the case in this first phase of a community-wide, coordinated effort to save health funding. We urge you to personalize these talking points describing how federal programs impact you and your family, as personal stories resonate most with lawmakers.
In the coming days, we urge you to:
· Call your elected officials in both their local and Washington offices.
· Stop by your elected officials’ district offices or scheduled Town Hall meetings during the week of February 21 – February 25.
· Send personalized e-mails directly to congressional staff.
· Join your Member of Congress’ newsletter list to learn of additional opportunities to have your voice heard, such as tele-town hall meetings.
[INSERT ORG NAME]’s Washington team are ready to assist you in these efforts. Please do not hesitate to contact us at: [INSERT CONTACT INFO]
The time to act is now. Please contact Congress today to support funding for [INSERT YOUR FUNDING PRIORITY] and public health programs.
Tell Congress
Cuts to Health Funding Do More Harm Than Good
Funding for the public health programs and [INSERT YOUR FUNDING PRIORITY] face an unprecedented and immediate threat. The House next week will vote to finalize funding levels for fiscal year (FY) 2011. [INSESRT YOUR FUNDING PRIORITY] could see as much as a 20 percent cut, or be eliminated altogether.
What happens next week will set the stage for future budget debates. If proposed cuts to FY 2011 are enacted, [INSERT YOUR FUNDING PRIORITY] will be jeopardized and it will take years to recover.
Members of Congress need to hear from their constituents that cuts in health funding do more harm than good. In the coming weeks, we will activate our grassroots and grasstops network to communicate the value of funding for [INSERT YOUR FUNDING PRIORITY]] and public health programs, broadly.
Attached are suggested talking points, prepared by the Coalition for Health Funding, to help the health community respond with one voice in a coordinated effort. Our staff has tailored the message to reflect our specific funding priorities.
In the coming days, we will ask our grassroots network to:
· Call elected officials, both the local and Washington offices.
· Stop by elected officials’ district offices or scheduled Town Hall meetings during the district work week of February 21 – February 25.
· Send personalized e-mails directly to congressional staff.
· Join your Member of Congress’ newsletter list to learn of additional opportunities to have your voice heard, such as tele-town hall meetings.
We ask that you take a moment to contact any Members of Congress or congressional staff with whom you have personal relationships and urge them to support funding for [INSERT YOUR FUNDING PRIORITY] and public health programs broadly.
[INSERT ORG NAME]’s Washington team are ready to assist you in this and future efforts to preserve health funding. Please do not hesitate to contact us at: [INSERT CONTACT INFO]