Please contact your US Representative asap and ask them to vote YES to the 1st Century Cures Act. This bill has Lyme legislation that will help patients.
The vote will be at approximately noon today.
http://www.whoismyrepresentative.com If you are unsure who your Representative is, you can find them here with your zip code.
Published on Nov 28, 2016
LymeLight Foundation grant recipients share about their treatment grants and describe symptoms of Lyme disease.
November 30, 2016
Lyme community leaders are pleased to announce that language on tick-borne diseases (TBD) will be included in the 21st Century Cures Act (the House Amendment to Senate Amendment to HR 34). The inclusion of this language was achieved after 2 days of intense negotiations with Congressional offices. The language will be included in the House version of the bill which is expected to pass easily due to its broad bipartisan support. The signatories listed below mutually agreed upon the new TBD language that will now be included in the bill.
Yesterday and early today, Leaders put out calls to the community to have them contact their federal Senators and Representatives to pull out congressionally proposed Lyme language that would have contradicted the bill’s intent. Thank you all for those efforts. Congressional leaders responded by indicating a willingness to work with the Lyme community. That effort was successfully concluded at 5pm today when the Rules committee met and the proposed language agreed upon by both sides was incorporated into the large 21st Century Cures amendment legislation.
We would like to thank House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Chairman Fred Upton of the Energy & Commerce Committee, and Congressman Christopher H. Smith, Co-Chair of the House Lyme Caucus, for their efforts to make this happen. We also thank Congressman Chris Gibson whose work in having Lyme language inserted into the original Cures Act which passed the House enabled us to move forward with this groundbreaking effort. A vote on the Rules portion and then on the Managers Amendment will take
place Tomorrow Wednesday, midday, and will be broadcast on CNN. Final times will be available in the AM.
Patricia Smith, President, Lyme Disease Association, Inc.
Jill Auerbach Chair, Hudson Valley Lyme Disease Association
Phyllis Mervine, President, LymeDisease.org
Ira Auerbach, Hudson Valley Lyme Disease Association
Christina T. Fisk, President, Lyme Action Network
David Roth, Founder of Tick Borne Disease Alliance and Global Lyme Alliance
Bruce Fries, President, Patient Centered Care Advocacy Group
Holly Ahern, Vice President, Lyme Action Network
Dorothy Leland, Vice President, LymeDisease.org
Timohy Lynagh, Board Member, Lyme Disease Association, Inc.
ILADS
International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society
As a result of strong lobbying efforts by Lyme advocates across the country, ILADS doctors and the community, House Representatives have entered into negotiations with the Lyme community to modify the amended language. This language is currently being negotiated as I write this email.
The new language is more in line with Chris Gibson’s bill and we are carefully analyzing it at this time. It appears that a consensus may be on the horizon. It is with that in mind that I request that everyone stand down until the final language is determined.
Thank you for your efforts in encouraging the physicians to weigh in. Without the call to action from the entire community working in concert, these negotiations would likely never have taken place.
Best,
Susan
Susan R. Green
Attorney-at-Law
Madison Area Lyme Support Group 