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Urgent Vote This Week: Make Public Health a National Priority!

Target: U.S. Senate
Sponsored by: Trust for America's Health

CRITICAL VOTE THIS WEEK: Urge Your Senators to Vote "YES" on Specter/Harkin/Kennedy Amendment to Increase Funding for Health and Education Programs in the Senate Budget Resolution

Public health is all about preventing and reducing disease and minimizing health threats -- whether naturally occurring like pandemic influenza or the result of a bioterrorist attack. On February 6, 2006, the President released his FY 2007 budget request which significantly shortchanges our nation's public health programs.

Cuts to programs intended to prevent chronic diseases like cancer, asthma and diabetes are especially troubling, given that seventy percent of U.S. deaths are caused by of chronic diseases every year. Allowing proposed cuts to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the agency responsible for reducing disease and improving health, runs counter to Americans' desire to improve health in this country.

Senators Specter, Harkin and Kennedy have offered an amendment to the Senate Budget Resolution that will increase the budget level by $7 billion, providing much needed additional funds for important programs, including those promoting the public's health.

We need your voice today - sign now to send an email to your Senators, and urge them to restore cuts to public health programs by supporting the Specter/Harkin/Kennedy Amendment. It's time that we ensure our public's health is a national priority!

deadline: 3-14-2007
goal: 10,000

10,204
signatures!

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We won! Thanks to all of your emails to your Senators, we won - the Specter/Harkin/Kennedy Amendment passed the Senate on March 16, 2006!

Dear Senator,

As a constituent, I urge you to uphold America's commitment to the public’s health by supporting the Specter/Harkin/Kennedy amendment to increase the budget level by $7 billion, providing much needed additional funds for important programs, including those promoting the public’s health. This funding is vital to the health and safety of every American.

The President's FY 2007 budget request proposed $600 million in cuts to essential public health programs, including elimination of the Preventive Health and Health Series Block Grant and deep cuts to cancer, Alzheimer's, birth defects, and heart disease research and prevention programs. Sadly, these cuts follow decisions made by Congress and the Administration to cut discretionary public health funding by over $1 billion in FY 2006. When inflation is factored in, the cuts total nearly 10 percent to agencies at the forefront of public health preparedness.

I believe we should be investing in public health programs that seek to find causes and cures for chronic diseases in addition we should strengthen the ability of state and local health departments to respond to a health emergency, be it a pandemic flu outbreak or a terrorist attack involving anthrax or another deadly substance. I believe that every American should be able to count on the federal government to make public health a national priority, which will keep all of us safer and healthier. Vote "YES" on the Specter/Harkin/Kennedy amendment and keep America Healthy and strong.

Thank you for consideration. I hope I can rely on your support.

[Your name]
[Your address]

We signed the “Urgent Vote This Week: Make Public Health a National Priority!” petition!

# 50:

5:34 pm PST, Mar 14, Heather Hamilton, Michigan

# 49:

5:34 pm PST, Mar 14, Karen Talia, West Virginia

# 48:

5:34 pm PST, Mar 14, Tamarack Van De Velde, Connecticut

# 47:

5:34 pm PST, Mar 14, Terry Sessions, Utah

# 46:

5:34 pm PST, Mar 14, Sharon Mcintosh, California

# 45:

5:33 pm PST, Mar 14, Michelle Tirelli, Connecticut

# 44:

5:33 pm PST, Mar 14, Vickie Heisler, Missouri

# 43:

5:33 pm PST, Mar 14, Rz Saverio, California

# 42:

5:33 pm PST, Mar 14, Brick Bradford, Pennsylvania

# 41:

5:33 pm PST, Mar 14, Vinnie Scarola, New York

# 40:

5:33 pm PST, Mar 14, Melinda McBride, California

# 39:

5:33 pm PST, Mar 14, Penni Jones, Arizona
Being injured while on the job was not in my life plan but it happened any way! Then it was not in my new revised version of my life plan to have to be on public health assistance but it happened any way! I don't know what I would have done if there had been no public health assistance for me to turn to for my pain medications. As it was, there were times when we had no health coverage at all... being unable to qualify for public health assistance and not making enough money to pay for health coverage through my husband's job. Public health assistance should be a national priority.

# 38:

5:32 pm PST, Mar 14, Claire Grygotis, Arkansas

# 37:

5:32 pm PST, Mar 14, Molly Anderson, Minnesota

# 36:

5:31 pm PST, Mar 14, Tom Barnes, Florida

# 35:

5:31 pm PST, Mar 14, Christine Georgiou, New York

# 34:

5:31 pm PST, Mar 14, Lauri Peacock, New Mexico

# 33:

5:31 pm PST, Mar 14, Chuck Oliver, Oregon

# 32:

5:30 pm PST, Mar 14, Danielle Dekker, Washington

# 31:

5:30 pm PST, Mar 14, Fred Fall, New Jersey

# 30:

5:30 pm PST, Mar 14, Debbie Cooper, Georgia

# 29:

5:30 pm PST, Mar 14, Theresa Tocco, New Jersey
What happened to no taxation without representation? Who is representing the lower middle class who cannot afford health care but make too much money to be government funded?

# 28:

5:29 pm PST, Mar 14, Name not displayed, California
Every individual should be able to receive healthcare no matter what their financial standing. Providing healthcare for those who cannot afford it is imperative to the wellness of our country.

# 27:

5:29 pm PST, Mar 14, A G, New Jersey

# 26:

5:29 pm PST, Mar 14, Kathy Long, Washington

# 25:

5:29 pm PST, Mar 14, Suzann Castello, New York

# 24:

5:28 pm PST, Mar 14, Alison Barthelemy, New Jersey

# 23:

5:28 pm PST, Mar 14, Jackie Gardner, New York

# 22:

5:28 pm PST, Mar 14, Name not displayed, Wisconsin

# 21:

5:28 pm PST, Mar 14, Jill Strube, Texas

# 20:

5:27 pm PST, Mar 14, Maren Fouts, Maryland

# 19:

5:27 pm PST, Mar 14, Dawn Grib, Pennsylvania

# 18:

5:27 pm PST, Mar 14, Annmarie Kotlik, Pennsylvania

# 17:

5:27 pm PST, Mar 14, Halley Farber, Georgia

# 16:

5:27 pm PST, Mar 14, Jordon Gross, Oregon

# 15:

5:27 pm PST, Mar 14, Joel Saeks, New York

# 14:

5:27 pm PST, Mar 14, Bonnie Haufe, Virginia
Many on low incomes or between jobs can't afford quality healthcare!

# 13:

5:26 pm PST, Mar 14, Name not displayed, Illinois

# 12:

5:26 pm PST, Mar 14, Erin Eckelberry, Ohio

# 11:

5:25 pm PST, Mar 14, Arwen Kuttner, New Jersey
Please, as a cancer survivor I ask you to make public health a priority.

# 10:

5:25 pm PST, Mar 14, Name not displayed, Idaho

# 9:

5:25 pm PST, Mar 14, Melissa Simpson, Utah

# 8:

5:24 pm PST, Mar 14, Jonathan Horne, California

# 7:

5:24 pm PST, Mar 14, Judy Stufflebeam, Oregon

# 6:

5:24 pm PST, Mar 14, Name not displayed, California

# 5:

5:24 pm PST, Mar 14, Francine Stuelpnagel, California

# 4:

5:10 pm PST, Mar 14, Name not displayed, Maryland
Please protect my family from the threat of pandemic flu and the risks of bioterrorism. Public health must be a national priority!

# 3:

3:46 pm PST, Mar 14, Rebecca Young, California

View Signatures:
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