A new dispatch from my very own unnamed Deep Throat in DC:

On Tuesday, the Senate approved its Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill for fiscal year 2008; the bill preserves funding for the CDC's Entertainment Education program (background here). This victory is due to the staunch support for the program shown by the public health community. Now, our attention turns to the House-Senate conference committee that will negotiate a final bill to send to the President. We need to urge the conference committee to remove the Ryan amendment previously approved by the House, which would eliminate funding for CDC's Entertainment Education program. We believe the conference committee will wrap up its work and send a bill to the President by November 1st.

We can mobilize one more time to make sure that the funding remains in the final bill. We've already seen that by showing our support for the effectiveness and importance of the EE approach, we were able to convince those in the Senate that this funding is not a "boondoggle." I could see that individuals from the House and Senate visited my blog to read what had been written about the amendment. Let's make sure that they continue to feel the pressure. We only need to persuade four people this time.

At this point, sending a fax will be most effective. Copy and personalize the suggested letter below, sign and date it, and send one copy to the House and one to the Senate. Here are the fax numbers and letter:

Chairman Harkin and Ranking Member Specter – (202) 224-2100
Chairman Obey and Ranking Member Walsh - (202) 225-9476


Date

Chairman Tom Harkin
Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies
Washington, D.C. 20510

Ranking Member Arlen Specter
Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies
Washington, D.C. 20510

Chairman David Obey
House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies
Washington, D.C. 20515

Ranking Member James Walsh
House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies
Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Chairmen and Ranking Members:

As the House and Senate conference the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations bill for fiscal year 2008, I am writing to share my support for the CDC’s Entertainment Education Program. This is an important public health tool which utilizes the power of popular mass media to educate Americans about healthy behaviors.

During House consideration of the Labor-HHS bill, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) successfully offered an amendment to eliminate funding for the program. I urge you to remove this amendment as you develop the conference report.

The CDC’s Entertainment Education Program fosters the use of factual health information in television shows and promotes the incorporation of important and timely public health messages into television programming. Funding for this program allows the CDC to reach out to television writers with written materials and experts on a wide range of public health issues, to respond to requests from television writers, producers, and researchers, and to ultimately connect them with experts who can provide factual information.

According to the 2005 HealthStyles (Porter Novelli) study, nearly three out of 10 (28%) regular television viewers took one or more actions as a result of a television health storyline, such as telling someone about the health topic, calling a hotline or visiting a clinic. Under the guidance of the CDC’s Entertainment Education Program, more than 400 television episodes contained public health information, including more than 82 major storylines.

Please support effective approaches to improve public health – remove the Ryan amendment during conference consideration of the Labor-HHS bill. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Please fax your letter by October 31st. I'll keep you informed of any news I learn. Thanks for your support!

Photo Credit: Daniel Berger


Technorati Tags: cdc, congress, hhs, bill, public health, entertainment education