Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has scheduled votes that will take place this week on two competing measures to provide funding for the rest of FY11.

One is the House-passed bill (H.R. 1), which cuts the National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding by $1.6 billion.

The other is an alternative offered by Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Daniel Inouye (D-HI), which maintains the NIH budget at the FY10 level.

Congress still needs to hear from you! Contact your senators immediately and ask them to support the NIH as an urgent national priority by voting "yes" on the continuing resolution proposed by the Senate Appropriations Committee and "no" on H.R. 1. A sample letter for your use is located at http://capwiz.com/jscpp/home/ should you choose to email your elected official.

To take action on the CLS CapWiz page, simply type your zip code in the box to your right. You will be automatically directed to a sample letter. You can edit the letter and send it to your elected officials right from this site. We also encourage you to forward this alert to your friends and colleagues.

Thank you in advance for your participation!