Your Assistance is Requested

Protecting Worker Health: Save the NIOSH Education and Resource Centers (ERCs) and the Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing (AFF) Sector of the National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA)

AIHA is enlisting your help to protect federal funding for the NIOSH Education and Resource Centers (ERCs) and the Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing (AFF) sector of the National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA).

The Issue

The President has proposed elimination of all federal funding of the ERCs and the AFF in the FY 2012 budget. This amounts to $24,300,000 for the ERCs and $23,000,000 for the NORA Ag sector.

The House is attempting to cut billions of dollars from the FY 2011 budget that has been operating under a continuing resolution. The latest continuing resolution is scheduled to expire on March 18, however the House has approved an additional three-week extension. The Senate has not yet approved this extension. To this point - these continuing resolutions do not include cutting ERC and AFF funding for the remainder of the FY 2011 budget, scheduled to end on September 30, but nothing is guaranteed as Congress moves forward.

AIHA National Activity

AIHA staff met with the "Friends of NIOSH Coalition" to discuss this issue and outline efforts that need to be undertaken to save this funding.
AIHA national has sent a letter to selected Members of Congress opposing this cut in funding for the ERCs and the AFF.
AIHA national is also considering signing a joint letter with other "Friends of NIOSH" organizations.

What Can You Do?

AIHA national is asking the membership to contact their elected officials and urge the preservation of existing funding for NIOSH in the FY 2011 budget and the preservation of NIOSH funding for the ERCs and the AFF sector in the FY 2012 budget.

What Should You Say?

Several documents, provided below, will help you to learn more about this issue:

You can use this information to put together your own short letter in support of this NIOSH funding. The letter or email does not have to be long. Simply state your reasons in requesting the funding. Perhaps some of you took advantage of these programs and can address this from a very personal perspective. Make sure your email clearly spells out your concern and why the impact of the proposal wil be harmful to you.

This is the easy part. Click here to search for your elected official(s). Enter your 5-digit zip code and click "Go". You have the option to e-mail or fax; instructions for both methods are below:

To send an e-mail: Once your elected official(s) have been identified, click on the "e-mail" link below their picture.

To send a fax: Once your elected official(s) have been identified, click on the "info" link below their picture. Click on the tab labeled "Contact" and you will be provided the fax number.

Questions?

Contact Aaron Trippler at atrippler@aiha.org or 703-846-0730.

The Midwest Center for Occupational Health and SafetyContact MCOHS