BIAA Legislative Update October 2007.2
Laura Schiebelhut provides this update and annouBIAA Plays Key Role in Passing TBI Model Systems Funding Amendment.
This week, BIAA worked closely with Sen. Ken Salazar's (D-CO) office to pass an amendment to the FY08 Senate Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations bill which would increase funding for the TBI Model Systems of Care program by $900,000. The amendment to the Senate Labor-HHS-Education spending bill (H.R. 3043), sponsored by Sen. Salazar, passed by unanimous consent on Thursday evening, October 18, 2007. The amendment was co-sponsored by Senators Carl Levin (D-MI), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Bob Casey (D-PA), Joe Lieberman (I-CT), and Evan Bayh (D-IN).
The additional funding is intended to counteract the recent reduction, announced in August, in the number of TBI Model Systems of Care Centers from 16 research center sites to 14 sites. The language of the amendment specifies that the funding "shall be used to carry out the Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Model Systems of Care Program and to sustain at least 16 TBI Model Systems Centers."
BIAA has been working with the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine (ACRM) over the past few months on various legislative strategies to try and obtain this stopgap funding in order to ensure that the service capacity of the important TBI Model Systems of Care program is not diminished. New Department of Defense (DoD) and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) TBI research efforts authorized by legislation recently passed by the Senate are directed to collaborate closely with key TBI research efforts in the civilian sector, specifically including the TBI Model Systems of Care program.
Reduction in the number of research centers in the TBI Model Systems of Care program would have negative impacts both regionally and nationally, undermining established networks of expertise and research in the field of TBI. Certainly, such a reduction would make no sense considering the increased recognition of TBI as the signature injury of the War in Iraq, and Congress' clear legislative intent to link new DoD and VA TBI research efforts with civilian TBI research programs, specifically those - such as the TBI Model Systems of Care - administered through the National Institute on Disability Research and Rehabilitation (NIDRR).
The Senate is expected to pass its Labor-HHS-Education funding bill early next week. BIAA will then work with Sen. Salazar's office going forward to ensure this amendment is included in the eventual Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations conference report. Ultimately, the fate of this amendment will also depend on whether Bush vetoes the overall Labor-HHS-Education spending bill, which he has threatened to do, and how Congress chooses to proceed after that.
BIAA has also issued an Action Alert urging Congress to adopt the Senate version of the Labor-HHS-Education bill, which contains greater funding than the House bill for TBI programs.
