Hey guys, some of you might remember my past posts about recent Tourette Syndrome legislation. (If not, you can find them here, here and here.) There’s some exciting news regarding this bill: H.R. 3760, which was introduced in December 2011, has been reintroduced as bill H.R. 146 to the United States House of Representatives by New Jersey Congressman Albio Sires.
The bill, also known as the Collaborative Academic Research Efforts (CARE) for Tourette Syndrome Act of 2013, has the goal of establishing regional centers of excellence with the purpose of conducting research on the cause, diagnosis, early detection, prevention, control and treatment of TS and other disorders such as OCD, ADHD, anxiety and depression.
The original bill, which was introduced last year, gained co-sponsorships from 42 Congressmen — 9 of them from New Jersey. It’s great that there have been so many co-sponsorships because it shows how much support the bill has been gaining around the country. 33 have been from other states!
Even though co-sponsorships are not necessary to pass a bill (votes are), they certainly go a long way in garnering support around congress so that more votes will be gained when the vote finally takes place.
To contact your Congressman, please check out the orange and black widget on the right side of the homepage of the Teens4TS blog. If that doesn’t work for you, then visit this link to POPVOX and click on the orange oval labeled “SUPPORT” about halfway down the page.
From there, you can either write to your Congressman about your own personal feelings on the bill and why you think he should co-sponsor and support this bill in Congress, or you can just click “Next.” Enter your e-mail to register your position, and there you go! Your congressman now knows that there is support for a piece of legislation in the community he serves, and that you think that he should support it as well!
Thanks everyone! Another blog post will be coming soon with my second semester update from the University of Pittsburgh!
i just did it! doesnt seem like there are many people who have tho. that sucks.
Can anyone do this?
Please!