Friends –

I was proud to participate at last week’s G8 Dementia Summit in London where world leaders recognized the leadership of the United States by endorsing our goal of preventing and treating Alzheimer’s by 2025. This landmark action marks a historic step forward in the global fight against Alzheimer’s.

And Wednesday, Congress took what could be the first step in freeing up additional funding for Alzheimer’s research by passing the first budget in years. Your advocacy helped make this happen!

But will Congress use the increased flexibility in this budget deal to allocate the funding needed to reach the goal of stopping Alzheimer’s by 2025?

The next three weeks will be crucial in determining funding levels for Alzheimer’s research in Fiscal Year 2014.

Please urge your members of Congress to support a significant increase in funding for Alzheimer’s research as they begin to flesh out the details of the new budget agreement.

Although the bi-partisan budget deal that Congress passed this week partially addresses the deep budget cuts – known as “sequestration” – that went into effect earlier this year, it does not yet determine the level of funding for NIH and for Alzheimer’s. The current level of Alzheimer’s research funding is only about one-quarter of the amount leading Alzheimer’s scientists have deemed as the minimum necessary to achieve the goal of ending Alzheimer’s by 2025.

Last week, at the landmark G8 Dementia Summit¹, member nations recognized the leadership of the United States by committing to identify an effective therapy for dementia by 2025 and to significantly increase the amount of funding for dementia research to reach that goal. This action underscores how the U.S. is seen as leading the global movement to stop Alzheimer’s disease, just as we played a similar role in global efforts to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS a decade ago.

Now Congress must respond to the call of the G8 and provide adequate funding for Alzheimer’s research so this country can continue to demonstrate its leadership in the global fight to stop Alzheimer’s by 2025.

Ask your members of Congress to urge the Appropriations Committee to include an $80 million increase in Alzheimer’s research, as well as an additional $20 million to support Alzheimer’s patient and caregiver programs in the spending package they’re creating right now.

Thanks to all your efforts in fighting the sequester and to the successful G8 Dementia Summit last week, momentum is building – now it’s up to us to turn that momentum into real-world action.

Your members of Congress need to hear from you today to ensure that ending Alzheimer’s is a top priority. Please send your message now.

To stop Alzheimer’s, we have to be brave and demand action – and insist that our leaders share our courage. Only when we join together as an engaged and enraged community will we stop this disease.

Sincerely,

George Vradenburg
Chairman and Co-Founder
USAgainstAlzheimer’s