July 31, 2020

In early July we alerted you that the Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 Defense Appropriations Bill was publicly announced with $10 million appropriated for the Lupus Research Program at the Department of Defense. We are thrilled to announce that the House of Representatives today passed this Bill! The many, many phone calls and emails you, our LRA advocates, made in March paid off!

Also in response to the requests we all made to Congress, the FY 2021 Labor, Health and Human Services Appropriations Bill passed by the House today provides a total of $47 billion for the National Institutes of Health, an increase of $5.5 billion above what was passed in FY 2020. This is even more than we asked for, so clearly the House of Representatives heard your message and acted in response.

This is a wonderful development, and the LRA will continue advocating as the legislative process continues and ensure this critical funding is enacted into law.

Next step – the Senate is undergoing a similar appropriations process and is expected to vote on its version of these Bills this Fall. Right now, the House is up to Step 4 in the above chart and the Senate is in Step 3. We will keep you posted but meanwhile, congratulations to you all on a job well done! You can check here for updates.

Thank you for your passion, commitment, and advocacy for the critical advancements in lupus research.