SAMPLE letter for you to send to support HR 741
By: Phyllis Mervine, CALDA
Please use the phone/fax numbers below and get this letter, or a similar
one, off to as many of the subcommittee members as possible. Send a few
every day! Feel free to modify my letter.
Please let us know when you do anything so we can get some action going
among ourselves and inspire others to pitch in. This bill will not pass
without a massive effort - massive means small effort by MANY people,
rather than GREAT effort by a few. This is one time that NUMBERS MATTER.
Do your bit!
Phyllis SAMPLE LETTER Dear Congressman or Congresswoman __________: I am writing to ask you to support HR 741, the Lyme and Tick-borne Disease Prevention, Education, and Research Act of 2007. It is a companion bill to S 1708. HR 741 recognizes Lyme disease as a serious and debilitating illness, often misdiagnosed and under-reported. The CDC admits that only 10 percent of cases are reported. A Georgia study found that only one case in FORTY is reported. In 2005, the CDC reported 23,305 cases. This means that at least 233,050 cases occurred and probably more than 40 times that many, or 9,322,000 cases. That does not count thousands of cases never reported at all -- cases misdiagnosed as MS, ALS, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, and many others, and cases undiagnosed because of the insensitivity of the tests (which miss almost half the cases). Tickborne diseases are costing this country billions a year but most of the epidemic is hidden because of misdiagnosis. People who are not diagnosed and treated properly become chronically ill and are as disabled as people with congestive heart disease. HR 741 establishes a Tick-Borne Diseases Advisory Committee and calls for improvements in three broad categories -- diagnostic tests, surveillance; prevention -- and for clinical outcomes research. The bill authorizes an additional $100 million over five years to accomplish these activities. Please ask Chairman Pallone for a hearing on HR 741. Lyme disease is a nationwide health problem that needs and deserves serious efforts to contain it and prevent it. Over 90 Lyme disease patient groups support this bill. Sincerely yours, ** First # is phone, second is FAX. Call and speak to the health aide or even better, fax a letter. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) [Chairman] 202-225-4671 202-225-9665
Henry A. Waxman (D-CA) 202-225-3976 202-225-4099
Edolphus Towns (D-NY) 202-225-5936 202-225-1018
Bart Gordon (D-TN) 202-225-4231 202-225-6887
Anna G. Eshoo (D-CA) 202-225-8104 202-225-8890
Gene Green (D-TX) 202-225-1688 202-225-9903
Diana DeGette (D-CO) 202-225-4431 202-225-5657
Lois Capps (D-CA) 202-225-3601 202-225-5632
Thomas H. Allen (D-ME) 202-225-6116 202-225-5590
Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) 202-225-2906 202-225-6942
Eliot L. Engel (D-NY) 202-225-2464 202-225-5513
Janice Schakowsky (D-IL) 202-225-2111 202-226-6890
Hilda A. Solis (D-CA) 202-225-5464 202-225-5467
Michael A. Ross (D-AR) 202-225-3772 202-225-1314
Darlene Hooley (D-OR) 202-225-5711 202-225-5699
Anthony Weiner (D-NY) 202-225-6616 202-226-7253
James D. Matheson (D-UT) 202-225-3011 202-225-5638 Minority Members (Republicans) Nathan Deal (R-GA) [Rankiing Member] 202-225-5211 202-225-8272
Ralph M. Hall (R-TX) 202-225-6673 202-225-3332
Barbara Cubin (R-WY) 202-225-2311 202-225-3057
Heather A. Wilson (R-NM) 202-225-6316 202-225-4975
John B. Shadegg (R-AZ) 202-225-3361 202-225-3462
Stephen E. Buyer (R-IN) 202-225-5037 202-225-2267
Joseph R. Pitts (R-PA) 202-225-2411 202-225-2013
Mike Ferguson (R-NJ) 202-225-5361 202-225-9460
Mike Rogers (R-MI) 202-225-4872 202-225-5820
Sue Myrick (R-NC) 202-225-1976 202-225-3389
John Sullivan (R-OK) 202-225-2211 202-225-9187
Tim Murphy (R-PA) 202-225-2301 202-225-1844
Michael Burgess (R-TX) 202-225-7772 202-225-2919
Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) 202-225-2811 202-225-3004