Alright – so, by now we should all know that Congress is where all autism everything comes from whether it is research, services, resources, surveillance, etc and etc.
And, in order for any autism bill or autism funding to pass – it must go through the U.S House of Representatives. This includes state funding for autism services, research, and therapies. For example, ABA funding is both Federal from Centers for Medicaid and Medicare and state. In Minnesota ABA is half funded by CMS and half by Minnesota, which means for DHS to pay for ABA – it must be matched by CMS, which gets their funding by Congress. Another example, Minnesota department of health gets their majority of their funding from the Federal government from congressionally approved sources. MDH’s child and maternal health which autism is under is funded by block grants from Health Resources and Services Administration who get their funding from Congress. In other words, every area in autism depends on Congressional funding and allocation of resources.
Above reasons is why I contacted Speaker Boehner’s office back in 2011 when I was advocating for the Combating autism act of 2011. Speaker Boehner has been one of the easiest people for me to advocate in Congress. There was hardly any drama or arrogance in his office or within his staff. In fact, I got below letter from him and really how many autism advocates can say the Speaker of the U.S House of Representatives sent them a letter. Recently, Speaker Boehner also supported the ABLE Act that just passed which will help all people with disabilities.
Dear Idil:
Thank you for contacting me regarding autism care and research. I appreciate hearing from you.
As you know, autism is a complex developmental disorder affecting many people today. This life-long disorder deprives children of many abilities, such as interacting with others in ordinary ways, understanding and communicating with others, and having normal reasoning skills. The number of people afflicted with the disorder grows every day with no known cure or cause. Statistics state that nearly one in every 110 children now live with autism. This disorder leaves permanent effects on the children and their families.
The Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) coordinates efforts within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) concerning autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The IACC mission is to: 1) facilitate the efficient and effective exchange of information on ASD activities among the member agencies; 2) coordinate ASD-related activities; and 3) increase public understanding of the member agencies’ activities, programs, policies, and research by providing a public forum for discussions related to ASD research, screening, education, and interventions.
You may be interested to know that funding for autism programs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has increased from less than $300,000 in 1995 to $22.1 million in 2011. During that same period autism funding at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) increased from $10.5 million in 1995 to an estimated $160 million in 2011. In addition, the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program (CDMRP) at the Department of Defense (DoD) supports research on a variety of diseases and disorders. The program administers programs funding on autism, multiple sclerosis, breast cancer, prostate cancer, ovarian cancer, chronic myelogenous leukemia, neurofibromatosis, and tuberous sclerosis research, among others. From Fiscal Year 1992 (FY92) through FY10, CDMRP has received $6 billion in federal funding for research. CDMRP is funded at $394.4 million for FY11, including $6.4 million for the autism research program. From FY07 through FY10, the autism research program has received $29.9 million in federal funding.
Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ) has sponsored a bill to confront the challenges of autism, H.R. 2005, the Combating Autism Reauthorization Act of 2011. This legislation would reauthorize the Combating Autism Act for an additional three years, through September 30, 2014. This bill has been referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, who held a legislative hearing in July. As this bill moves through the Committee, rest assured that I will keep your support for autism care and research in mind.
Thank you again for contacting me with your thoughts. Please don’t hesitate to inform me of your concerns in the future. To sign up for email updates, I invite you to visit my website at http://johnboehner.house.gov.
Sincerely,
John A. Boehner
Therefore, I will always support Speaker Boehner and I am glad that he won. I know that we in the autism community have a friend in Speaker John Boehner. It is worth noting that Minnesota Republican members in Congress voted for him, which is great. Here is those that voted for him and the measly couple of dozen that did not. What I found interesting was that Minority leader Nancy Pelosi also had some defectors, but no one in the media even looked twice at them. By the same token, the 25 out of hundreds that voted against Boehner was all big news. Unhhh – ain’t that interesting, how selective liberal media is in their news reporting. I wonder how that relates to autism, think about it.
Above words do not reflect any candidate, agency or committee
Idil – Somali Autism Mom & Minority Advocate