The Department of Veterans Affairs recognizes ALS as a service-connected disease since Veterans are twice as likely to be diagnosed with ALS than civilians. With this in mind, the Department of Defenses’ program to understand and find treatment and cures for ALS should not be defunded.
By filling out this form you will send an email supporting ALS research funding to your representative and senators.
On Saturday, March 8, 2025, the House of Representatives released a continuing resolution bill to fund the government during the 2025 fiscal year at the same level as 2024.
Within the bill there are dramatic cuts to the Department of Defenses’s Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program (CDMRP). ALSRP (the ALS research program within the CDMRP) has made and continues to make significant research progress. The proposed cuts would be devastating to not only scientific progress, but also for people living with ALS and their caregivers and loved ones.
In 2024, it was reported that ALSRP (the ALS research program within the CDMRP) received more than $80 million in research proposals that were scored at the fund level. This is double the Congressionally allocated amount for that year. This meant numerous high-quality research projects went unfunded. If we are to end ALS, a currently terminally underfunded disease, we cannot let high-quality research go underfunded. We must fund research to understand and find treatments for a disease that is service-connected, has a higher incidence among Veterans, and has direct relevance to the health of our military.
The decision to defund the ALSRP is unacceptable and unthinkable. We cannot allow ALS to continue to be terminally underfunded. We must build on our understanding of ALS research. We must continue to fund research and not defund a highly successful program.