Brain Injury Blog | Traumatic Brain Injury TBI

Appropriators in both chambers have reportedly been working on conference negotiations over the last few weeks for the Fiscal Year 2009 (FY09) funding bills.

In response to hearing that Appropriations Committees were indeed conferencing the FY09 Labor-HHS-Educations funding bill, BIAA joined other stakeholder organizations in circulating a sign-on letter calling for increased funding for TBI programs in FY09. Earlier this week, this letter was delivered to the leaders of both the House and Senate Labor-HHS-Educations Subcommittees on Appropriations.

The timeline for final action is unclear at this point, but “public statements imply that the Democratic leadership wants all FY 2009 appropriations bills finished and on President Obama’s desk shortly after his inauguration on Jan. 20th so that he does not have to deal with unfinished business from the 110th Congress” (The Coalition for American Trauma Care Washington Report, 12/05/08).

The brain injury stakeholder letter urges appropriators to adopt the highest possible funding levels for TBI programs contained in the respective House or Senate versions of the bill. Specifically, the letter states, “As negotiations on the spending bills for Fiscal Year 2009 continue, we urge you to adopt the funding levels for the Department of Health and Human Services traumatic brain injury (TBI) programs as recommended by the House Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee and the Senate Appropriations Committee language and funding levels for the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR).”

As BIAA anticipates early action in January on an FY2009 omnibus appropriations package, please, if you have not already done so, visit our website to take action at http://capwiz.com/bia/home/.