The House has OK'd $5 million in funding for lupus-related research. | Courtesy of Shutterstock
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Amanda Rupp | Jun 19, 2016

House approves $5 million for lupus research

Leaders on the U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee recently approved the Fiscal Year 2017 Appropriations Act, offering $5 million in provisions to finance a research program specifically dedicated to lupus.

The research program is part of the Congressional Directed Medical Research Program (CDMRP) under the Department of Defense (DoD).

“For more than a decade, we have worked tirelessly to encourage the Congress to provide critical funding for lupus research -- and today’s vote is the culmination of our efforts, which gained momentum after the formation of the Congressional Lupus Caucus,” Sandra Raymond, president and CEO of the Lupus Foundation of America, said. “We thank the Congressional Lupus Caucus co-chairs -- Rep. Thomas Rooney (R-FL), Rep. William Keating (D-MA), Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) -- and the entire caucus for their continued efforts to include a lupus-specific medical research program within this bill.”

Previously, the Lupus Foundation of America testified at the Senate Defense Subcommittee about the importance of lupus research. The foundation’s leaders have also met with officials of the CDMRP at Fort Detrick, collaborated with the Congressional Lupus Caucus and written a paper, "Lupus and the Military."

Now the act waits for approval from the Senate. If there are differences between the versions of the House and Senate, these differences must be reconciled before the act makes its final passage.

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