Gabriella Miller’s words to Congress

Gabriella Miller
Gabriella Miller’s words to Congress . . . “Do whatever you want with this, but I have to say it  . . . Talking is B— S—, we need actions!”  Shortly after hearing Gabriella’s no-nonsense message, Congressman Harper (a parent of a child with Fragile X Syndrome and Sponsor of the Kids First Research Act) and Majority Leader Eric Cantor (a Co-Sponsor of HR1553 Carolina Pryce Walker Conquer Childhood Cancer Act of 2008) named HR2019 Kids First Research Act after Gabriella.
 
The Gabriella Miller Kids First Research Act of 2013 would re-designates the Presidential Campaign Election Fund as a 10-Year Pediatric Research Initiative Fund. More than $12 Million per year for 10 years will supplement (not supplant) funds otherwise allocated by NIH for pediatric medical research. The Presidential Campaign Election Fund has not been accessed by a presidential candidate in recent elections.
Additional online information on HR2019 . . . 
 
Gabriella Miller Kids First Research Act of 2013 will be on the house floor this coming week for a Under Suspension of the Rules vote (no additional amendments can be offered to the bill and a 2/3 majority of Members present and voting is required to agree to the motion).
How can you and Team G Foundation support its passage in the House next week? 
1. A formal letter of support from your organization before Tuesday, December 10th at 5PM. 
  • Join other children and cancer-focused organizations in support of the Gabriella Miller Kids First Research Act of 2013 by sending a formal letter of support. A list of the organizations that have already provided support letters is attached.
  • A sample letter of support is also attached. Feel free to use the content in the sample letter as you see fit. The yellow highlighted areas need to be personalized to your organization.
  • Organization support letters should be emailed to Scot Malvaney (Scot.Malvaney@Mail.House.Gov) and include “Organization Support Letter for HR2019 Gabriella Miller Kids First Research Act of 2013” in the subject line.
 
If your organization has already provided a letter of support, THANK YOU!
2. Throughout the coming week up until Friday, December 13th at 2PM, constituents need to contact their Congressman/woman and request that their Representative support the passage of HR2019 and become a co-sponsor (if they are not already). At the moment, HR2019 has over 150 congressional co-sponsors. Another 140 co-sponsors will guarantee safe passage in the house under suspension vote. A list of congressional members (including their contact information) co-sponsoring or not can be found on Four Square Clobbers Cancer http://4sqclobberscancer.com/on-capital-hill/hr2019/.
  • Simple call instructions including a script can also be found on Four Square Clobbers Cancer 
  • Please  consider communicating the urgent need to contact Congress through your social media to your organization.
  • Please feel free to repurpose any of the information found on Four Square on your organization’s site. Passage of a bill that provides additional funding for pediatric research is far more important.
3.  Need Individuals to sign up as Citizen Co-sponsors before Friday, December 13th. 
  • This is where your organization’s community can make a huge impact very quickly and with very little effort.
  • Anyone can become a Citizen Co-sponsor of Gabriella Miller Kids First Research Act by signing up at http://majorityleader.gov/makinglifework/kids-first-research-act/. It only takes a couple of clicks.
  • Please  consider communicating the urgent need to become a Citizen Co-sponsor through your social media to your organization.
    • Facebook post example:
      • We need to double our efforts! This bill is to be voted on next wext and we only have 2,153 citizen co-sponsors. Please share this post with your friends. It only takes two clicks to make a big difference. Go to: https://cosponsor.gov/details/hr2019-113
    • Twitter post examples:
Below is an info graphic that we’ve been using on Facebook and Twitter. Please feel free to use it, if you like.
 
Thank you so much for your time and consideration to support this extremely important piece of legislation that will provide $126 Million to advance research for pediatric diseases, including childhood cancer. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. 
THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! 
 
With so much gratitude for your time and support for HR2019 Gabriella Kids first Act, 
Beth Anne  
 
Beth Anne Baber, PhD MBA | Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer
The Nicholas Conor Institute | 3525 Del Mar Heights Road #946; San Diego, CA 92130

Summary of the Gabriella Miller Kids First Research Act, HR 2019

(As Amended for Consideration in the House)

— Because Curing Childhood Diseases is More Important than Subsidizing Political Parties —

The Gabriella Miller Kids First Research Act, introduced by Reps. Gregg Harper, Tom Cole, and Peter Welch seeks to reprioritize limited taxpayer resources by terminating funding for political party conventions and redirecting that funding towards pediatric medical research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Specifically, the bill terminates funding from the Presidential Election Campaign Fund for political party conventions (the Democratic and Republican Party National Conventions received $36.5 million in taxpayer subsidies in 2012).  Over the next ten years this will save $126 million. This $126 million is then authorized to be spent on pediatric medical research activities through the Common Fund at NIH.  The Common Fund supports transformative research that requires the coordination and collaboration of two or more research institutes and centers at NIH.   To ensure that funding reaches the intended target (pediatric research), the bill directs that the spending be drawn from a new Pediatric Research Initiative Fund. Because the NIH is a discretionary program and funded through the annual appropriations process, the Pediatric Research Initiative Fund provides an easy mechanism whereby the public can hold Congress and the Administration accountable to ensuring that each year pediatric research receives the funds that are being authorized under this bill. In addition, the Pediatric Research Initiative Fund will be able to receive additional funding as other bills are considered to reprioritize other lower-priority programs to pediatric research.

Research grants and contracts under the Pediatric Research Initiative are not limited to a specific field–all pediatric diseases and disorders are eligible for funding under this initiative, with decisions made through the peer review process at the NIH.