Last chance for Dear Colleague letters!!

Hello TBFighters,

We are hot off our success with the House of Representatives Dear Colleague letters—today and tomorrow are the last days to make sure we kill it with the Senate Dear Colleague letters as well!! The TB letter is due tomorrow, Tuesday, May 20, and the Global Fund letter is due the day after. You know what to do: check the RESULTS scorecard and call/email with our templates! There will be advocacy sessions today at 6pm PT/9pm ET and tomorrow at 5pm PT/8pm ET if you want company for those. Check out our advocacy sessions calendar for the rest of the week! 

Other events on the TBFighters calendar:

• PIH is having a virtual rally TODAY at 4:30pm PT/7:30pm ET where we can learn about how to defeat the upcoming House reconciliation bill that threatens to cut Medicaid, foreign aid, and other key social support programs.

• John Green will be featured on a PIH webinar on June 9 at 4pm PT/7pm ET about using community to drive change in global health. Basically, about us!

• The TBReaders Book Club had a great Q&A with John Green about Everything Is Tuberculosis last week, featuring TBFighter Michelle as moderator—watch on YouTube if you missed it!

Keep being awesome,
TBFighters

Postscript (DETAILS for super nerds):

What are Dear Colleague Letters?

Dear Colleague letters are written by members of Congress (usually multiple members) and circulated for other members to “sign onto”—meaning they support what’s written in the letter. They’re almost like petitions inside Congress, as they’re often addressed to the heads of committees who have decision-making power on bills and appropriations (budget). The letters we’re asking members to support are appropriations-focused. They ask the relevant committees to fund domestic and global programs for tuberculosis treatment, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis, and PEPFAR (the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief; the President in question here is George W. Bush, who created the program).

Why is advocating for this important?

The letters are asking for the same funding as we did on Hill Day ($225 million for domestic TB treatment, $1 billion for global TB programs, and the maximum ⅓ of the total funding the US can contribute to the Global Fund, which is $2 billion). This is a continuation of our advocacy and a way to get our representatives to commit their support for the asks we made. The timing is important because now is when committees are deciding what appropriations to include in their proposed budgets. In addition, this year is the beginning of a “replenishment cycle” for the Global Fund, which is a period of fundraising which will fund the fight against TB, HIV, and malaria from 2027-2029. The funds appropriated now determine our ability to fight infectious diseases through 2029. The US is the largest donor to the Global Fund, and it is vital that we continue our investments this cycle. PEPFAR funding is also critically important since people living with HIV/AIDS are more likely to develop TB than those without HIV/AIDS, and they are one of the populations most likely to die from TB.

How can I supercharge my advocacy for these letters?

There are a few things you can include when you call or email: 

1. These letters are both bipartisan! This may be especially helpful to tell Republican members.

2. Check TBFighter Tofu’s awesome website to find out if your Representative signed on to either of these letters last year. If they did, remind them! Offices are often quicker to sign on to letters they signed in the past.

Check the RESULTS tracker to find out if the other Senator or the representatives in your state have already signed on and mention that. E.g. “It looks like ¾ of Minnesota’s delegation has signed on, can I count on the Representative to join them?”