According to the Washington Post, Democrats and Republicans have all but completed work on this year's budget. That means our calls to VP Gore and others in Washington must end for the time being.

Although we don't have final numbers, it's pretty clear that despite our effort, diabetes research will remain significantly underfunded at NIH. Although NIH will receive a $2 billion increase this year, neither Congress nor the White House were willing to fully fund diabetes at the $827 million level recommended by the DRWG.

Instead, it appears that every budget at NIH will receive an "across the board" increase of 15%. Although not insignificant, this "across the board" approach discriminates against diabetes and other diseases with small budgets.

How else can you characterize the fact that this 15% increase results in a $500 million increase for cancer and a $270 million increase for AIDS but only $65 million for diabetes? This "across the board" approach simply does not treat all diseases equally.

Despite these "business as usual" results, we've put Washington on notice. We will continue to fight for full funding of diabetes research as recommended by the DRWG. They now know that we won't be silent until sanity is restored to the way in which medical research is funded in Washington.

Our next mission will be to persuade the Presidential candidates to sign the Diabetes Pledge for a Cure. Already we are organizing advocates in New Hampshire, Iowa and South Carolina to convince the candidates to sign.

Over the next few weeks, we'll ask for your participation in this campaign as well as our Petition Drive and the Rally for a Cure. Although this budget cycle is over, the next one is starting and there will be more opportunities to raise our voices.

Please remember that the task before us is enormous. We're trying to change an entire mind set in Washington. That won't happen overnight. It might not even happen next year. But with your continued support, it will happen eventually.

On behalf of the American Diabetes Association, I thank you for participating in these efforts to make finding a cure for diabetes a national priority.

Leading the fight to cure diabetes.......

Joseph LaMountain
National Director of Advocacy
American Diabetes Association
1701 N. Beauregard Street
Alexandria, VA 22311
fax: 703-549-8748