Veterans Called To Action to Help Gulf War Veterans in New Budget

A Special Call to Action for all to participate in now

by Denise Nichols
 
This is a task I believe we can accomplish very quickly if all readers of VT help!  This action may only take 5-10 minutes of your time at the most but those few minutes could truly benefit gulf war veterans.  Much better than buying a magnet for your cars or just talking a good game.
 
Let us all do whatever we can and pitch in…Read on!  And DO it Now.
 
This is critically very important and urgent in timeliness!  We need the phone calls to White House and emails to White House to support this effort now!   Start calling the White House (202-456-1414) or numbers you all have now initiate calls that will have huge impact for Gulf War illness treatments research? 

The purpose would be to leave a message for Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel urging him to include $25 million in the DoD 2010 budget for the Gulf War Illness treatments research program of the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program.  President Obama requested $30 million for the program when he was in the Senate, so he knows it’s effective and badly needed.

They can also go to www.whitehouse.gov, click on "contact us" and cut and paste into the message space the memo below.

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Hon. Rahm Emanuel, White House Chief of Staff:

President Obama has been a lead supporter of treatments research to improve the health of Gulf War veterans and to prevent similar problems in future military deployments.  As a member of the Senate, he requested $30 million funding for the Gulf War Illness Research Program of the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command’s Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program.  This excellent program was also recommended in the November report of the Congressionally-mandated Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans Illnesses, which found that 175,000 Gulf War veterans suffer from chronic illness due to toxic exposures during the war, for which there are currently no effective treatments.  The Report praised the program for “its emphasis on innovative studies that have the potential to yield clinically useful results in the near term.” 

But under the previous administration, DoD eliminated new Gulf War illness research from its budget, though it historically provided 2/3 of the funding, forcing ill veterans to go door-to-door in Congress.  Some Members, like the President, responded, but the program has been forced to compete with earmarks for Congressional attention, and funding has been inadequate ($8 million in FY 2009) to address this major health problem.  The Report placed the highest priority on research to identify treatments to improve the health of ill Gulf War veterans and prevent similar problems in future deployments.  It recommended that this peer-reviewed competitive program be included in the President’s Budget at the $40 million level.  I urgently request that you place the “peer-reviewed Gulf War illness research program” in the President’s 2010 budget at at least the $25 million level to move toward an adequate level of treatments research (DoD account RDTE, A; line title R-1 30; PE # 0603002A).

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Each year since 05 we advocates have had to go and spend significant time on the Hill working DOD Appropriations Committees and other Senators and  Representatives to support what we have gotten so far!  If we can do it this way it will happen automatically from the administration and will save us time, money, and resources!!!

WE ARE PUSHING TO FIND TREATMENT for the 1 in 4 gulf war veterans(VA RAC GWI Report Nov08) of 90-91 to improve and save their very lives!!! At least 175,000 up to 258,000(current number of VA Claims submitted on Desert Storm Veterans, which is 30.68 percent of all Desert Storm Veterans minimally) could eventually be helped by this effort to find effective treatments for them!

Denise Nichols  new email  [email protected]