The House Labor-HHS appropriations bill would eliminate the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality produced important research on Traumatic Brain Injury.

The bill, which will be marked up by the House Appropriations Labor-HHS subcommittee today, states that the agency would be “terminated” effective 1 October 2012. It would rescind all funds that haven’t been spent yet, and would “transfer” activities that fall under the agency. That includes the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, which has been at the center of controversies over prostate cancer screening and mammograms.

We urge you to act locally to defend research funding. Now is the time to reach out to your Representatives and tell them that health services research, and the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality, must be protected.

Please review the list below; if your elected official serves on the appropriations committee (those in Bold below are Subcommittee members), please urge them to vote “no” on this bill by calling the Capitol Hill operator at 202-225-3121 and asking for your representative’s office. Ask to speak to the health legislative or appropriations assistant.

Thank you!

Republican Members

Harold Rogers, Kentucky, Chairman
C.W. Bill Young, Florida
Jerry Lewis, California
Frank R. Wolf, Virginia
Jack Kingston, Georgia
Rodney P. Frelinghuysen, New Jersey
Tom Latham, Iowa
Robert B. Aderholt, Alabama
Jo Ann Emerson, Missouri
Kay Granger, Texas
Michael K. Simpson, Idaho
John Abney Culberson, Texas
Ander Crenshaw, Florida
Denny Rehberg, Montana (Subcommittee Chair)
John R. Carter, Texas
Rodney Alexander, Louisiana
Ken Calvert, California
Jo Bonner, Alabama
Steven C. LaTourette, Ohio
Tom Cole, Oklahoma
Jeff Flake, Arizona
Mario Diaz-Balart, Florida
Charles W. Dent, Pennsylvania
Steve Austria, Ohio
Cynthia M. Lummis, Wyoming
Tom Graves, Georgia
Kevin Yoder, Kansas
Steve Womack, Arkansas
Alan Nunnelee, Mississippi

Democratic Members

Norman D. Dicks, Washington
Marcy Kaptur, Ohio
Peter J. Visclosky, Indiana
Nita M. Lowey, New York
José E. Serrano, New York
Rosa L. DeLauro, Connecticut (Subcommittee Ranking Member)
James P. Moran, Virginia
John W. Olver, Massachusetts
Ed Pastor, Arizona
David E. Price, North Carolina
Maurice D. Hinchey, New York
Lucille Roybal-Allard, California
Sam Farr, California
Jesse L. Jackson, Jr., Illinois
Chaka Fattah, Pennsylvania
Steven R. Rothman, New Jersey
Sanford D. Bishop, Jr., Georgia
Barbara Lee, California
Adam B. Schiff, California
Michael M. Honda, California
Betty McCollum, Minnesota