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Trump specifically targetting "chronic fatigue syndrome" funding for cuts

RogerBlack

Senior Member
Messages
902
. So they have been told how much money they are potentially getting, and within that limit, they are saying what they would fund and what they wouldn't, and why.

As an example, this is an increase...

I think it's an uncontraversial statement to say that Trump would care lots more about spending money on federal research into reducing gun violence than CFS. (in that he would be far more opposed).
I don't think the thread title is meaningful - especially with the date on the critical document turning out to be October.

From memory, and basing this off NASA, '2017 budget' would be something worked out in 2016, and indeed about October (before Trump), which would have been confirmed some time ago (with whatever alterations).

We need to find whatever the final decision was on this - this is a proposed budget, it may not have passed in this form, but it probably actually is in force now - whatever the state, and we can't alter it by writing our (well, not my) representatives for this year.
 
The document found and posted later on in the thread here may not be the correct one but the NY Times reports on the story here, https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2017/03/28/us/politics/ap-us-trump-budget-glance.html, albeit not giving the detail on reduction of CDC funding.

Also Politico has posted this story on the proposed cuts, http://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/donald-trump-cuts-to-domestic-programs-congress-236579, in which it links to this document, http://www.politico.com/f/?id=0000015b-14ec-d040-a17b-bfeea7410001, entitled "FY 2017 Reduction Options (as of 3.23.2017)" which it claims was "sent to Capitol Hill on Friday".

This document contains this
Screen Shot 2017-04-02 at 14.04.42.png

which matches the text used previously.

The documents metadata is
Screen Shot 2017-04-02 at 14.05.09.png


Emma Tessier's Linkedin profile, https://www.linkedin.com/in/ektessier, lists her as "Budget Preparation Specialist at Office of Management & Budget, Washington D.C, January 2017 to present.

Both sources state that this is an attempt to defund existing budgets "for the ongoing 2017 budget year". Yes, I trusted one source when creating this thread but it looks like it all checks out to me.
 

RogerBlack

Senior Member
Messages
902
The document found and posted later on in the thread here may not be the correct one but the NY Times reports on the story here,
Both sources state that this is an attempt to defund existing budgets "for the ongoing 2017 budget year". Yes, I trusted one source when creating this thread but it looks like it all checks out to me.

It doesn't.
http://web.archive.org/web/20161218...7/fy-2017-cdc-congressional-justification.pdf

This is a Dec 16 2016 copy of the congressional justification document, presented by the president to congress so they can sign off (or not) on the budget.

This is over a month before Trumps inauguration, and he clearly had no input whatsoever into the document.

The document contains the same wording on CFS.
Checking back, the earliest published version (March 4 2016), most of a year before Trump has this language.

'Trump does nothing to alter, and probably doesn't know about cuts made by Obama to CFS funding' would be a better (but still ridiculous) title.

'Changes in 2017 CDC funding of CFS', or something along those lines is a more accurate title, than the inflammatory one.


Checking further finds https://www.masscfids.org/advocacy/633-update-on-cdc-funding-for-me-cfs
Pak said that back in February (of 2015)when the budget process began, he knew nothing about ME/CFS. The Senate was looking to cut a big chunk from the CDC budget, and they began hunting for places to trim. Pak hears from many patient advocacy groups during the annual budget process, but no one had contacted him about ME/CFS. A small program with no representation on Capitol Hill was a prime candidate for slashing, so Pak and his colleagues zeroed out the proposed $5.4 million ME/CFS fund in the Senate’s proposed CDC budget.
Which indicates that the thing started in Febuary 2015, and was caught and changed by advocacy.
Apparently, 'we' missed the reintroduction of the cut in 2016 for the forthcoming 2017 budget.
 
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Snow Leopard

Hibernating
Messages
5,902
Location
South Australia
Which indicates that the thing started in Febuary 2015, and was caught and changed by advocacy.
Apparently, 'we' missed the reintroduction of the cut in 2016 for the forthcoming 2017 budget.

We didn't, there was a thread on it a while back. It seems like there is a political struggle for funding inside the CDC right now - we keep being told different things.
 

RogerBlack

Senior Member
Messages
902
We didn't, there was a thread on it a while back. It seems like there is a political struggle for funding inside the CDC right now - we keep being told different things.
Thanks - I'd not done enough research - just what I knew already made the claims of the title almost ridiculous.

I can find the threads from ~August 2015 "stop writing, yay" with regards to 2016, but not ~Mar-Dec 2016 or so, which is when the 2017 budget would be set.

And nothing past Jan 17, which would be the last practical opportunity to get changes in easily, as everyone seemed to be excited about the 'new' NIH money.

The 'new' money coming on stream in FY2017 of ~3M at NIH (to add to the 3M of existing funding) means that in 2017 and going forward, NIH+CDC will be spending 2M less on CFS per year.

It is of course possible that this will lead to more effective research in total, as NIH is doing more interesting things with the money..

It is quite possible I've missed threads by searching the wrong keywords, and I've not looked at twitter or other channels at all.
 
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Messages
33
Location
Virginia USA
Without reading specifics or delving into any particulars, I do remember when I had looked at the National Institute of Health's Estimates of Funding for Various Research, Condition, and Disease Categories (NIH RCDC) I noticed there was a substantial amount of overlap. For example, there were BILLIONS of dollars worth of funds earmarked towards Stem Cell research while, as most of us are aware, there was only $5 MILLION carved out for CFS, which most of us also know doesn't even get approved to be spent. Ironically, there's also $25 Million in a line item for Suicide Prevention, which I strongly believe that a large chunk of suicides are indirectly related to the fact that our governments are ignoring us and making their political beliefs much more important than our lives. To be a little more specific, they are refusing to place the focus on making ANY progress towards a cure for ME/CFS and they are placing their personal beliefs about prescription drugs, especially controlled substances, above the needs of those who are suffering and desperate for some semblance of a quality of life.

(I hope I haven't violated any of the guidelines/rules in my post. I absolutely don't want to create any more work for someone else, nor do I want to create controversy and/or feelings of unease for anybody. My apologies if I have done so. I'll try MUCH harder to track down the guidelines if it turns out I have done so. I haven't been tireless in my search for them, but they haven't jumped out at me yet as I've been poking around a little on this site like a blind mouse.)
 

RogerBlack

Senior Member
Messages
902
@viggster curious if you know how funding increases are divvied up ? Is this scope for funding previously underfunded areas to get an increase or does each dept get pro rata funding increase?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=EzQpkQ1etdA#t=1230
Skimming https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/FY17 Labor HHS Education Conference Agreement Summary - Final.pdf .

$1390m for altzheimers research (+400m).
$5700m for national cancer institute (+475m)
$320m for precision medicine initiative (+120m)
$260m for brain mapping (+110m)
$463 for antibiotic resistance (+50m)
$334 international development (+12)
$12 'kids first development act'
And $160M for building works.

I'm not sure any of this money could be sprung free for CFS. Perhaps the precision medicine initiative might in some way.

And various agencies get $800m, up by 650m for fighting opiod abuse.


The long-term goals of the Precision Medicine Initiative focus on bringing precision medicine to all areas of health and healthcare on a large scale. To this end, the NIH plans to launch a study involving a group (cohort) of at least 1 million volunteers from around the United States. Participants will provide genetic data, biological samples, and other information about their health. These data will be used by researchers to study a large range of diseases, with the goals of better predicting disease risk, understanding how diseases occur, and finding improved diagnosis and treatment strategies.

If the right questions could be asked of these 1m, that would be very valuable for CFS.
 
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Messages
2,087
I'm not sure any of this money could be sprung free for CFS. Perhaps the precision medicine initiative might in some way.

And various agencies get $800m, up by 650m for fighting opiod abuse.
Seems to me the only way to get funding is for Congress to specifically call it out.
 

Dolphin

Senior Member
Messages
17,567
From: Dr. Marc-Alexander Fluks

Source: StatNews

Date: May 24, 2017

Author: Lev Facher

URL: https://www.yahoo.com/news/hiv-programs-mental-health-8-083053776.html

Ref: https://www.statnews.com/2017/05/22/trump-budget-health-science/



HIV programs, mental health: 8 ways Trump's new budget might affect public health

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(...)



Below are some of the most notable funding reductions slated for the Department of Health and Human Services, as well as one funding increase. HHS oversees multiple agencies tasked with protecting our health.


(...)



Domestic CDC preventive health programs


(...)


The budget would also eliminate $64.9 million for 'emerging and zoonotic infections,' including activities related to chronic fatigue syndrome and prion disease.


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(c) 2017 StatNews