Lawmakers Who Cut Funds For ALS Research Take Ice Bucket Challenge For ALS Research

[KamaAina]

An astounding number have (D) after their names.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/20/lawmakers-ice-bucket-challenge_n_5696290.html

The funding cuts, in this case, were caused by the passage of the Budget Control Act of 2011 -- otherwise known as the bill to save the United States government from default. As a condition of getting congressional Republicans to sign off on the debt ceiling hike, the Obama White House and Congressional Democrats agreed to budget cuts and future budget cuts that would be delivered via sequestration, an across-the-board cleaver that cut certain agencies' budgets by roughly 5 percent.

The National Institutes of Health was one of those agencies. It was forced to slash an estimated $1.55 billion from its programs. Among those was the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. In Fiscal Year 2013, the NINDS budget was $1.53 billion, a $92 million decrease from FY 2012. For ALS-specific research, funding went from $44 million to $39 million....

The ice bucket challenge will more than fill that hole. As of Wednesday, it had raised more than $31 million. That money, however, goes to the ALS Association for patient care and global research for cures and treatments. It does not go through the NIH, which still grapples with funding levels that science research advocates say is woefully short.

Members of Congress could have fixed that shortcoming with a supplemental funding bill. Instead, many chose to dump ice water on their heads. Those who took the challenge but also supported the bill that led to sequestration include:

John Barrow (D-Ga.)
Timothy Bishop (D-N.Y.)
Robert Brady (D-Penn.)
John Carney (D-Del.)
David Cicilline (D-R.I.)
Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.)
Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.)
Joe Kennedy (D-Mass)
Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.)
Jim Langevin (D-R.I.)
Frank LoBiondo (R-N.J.)
Jim Himes (D-Conn.)
Steve Israel (D-N.Y.)
Lynn Jenkins (R-Kan.)
Rep. Tom Rooney (R-Fla.)
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.)
Erik Paulsen (R-Minn.)
Ed Perlmutter (D-Co.)