Cure Autism Now Update

I got this e-mail that I thought I would share....

Cure Autism Now Celebrates the Senate HELP Committee
Passage of the Combating Autism Act of 2006


On Wednesday, July 19, the 20 members of the Senate HELP Committee unanimously voted to send the Combating Autism Act of 2006 (S.843) to the full Senate for approval. This represents a tremendous victory for the entire autism community, including the many organizations that formed a coalition to advance this legislation. We anticipate the bill will pass the Senate by a “unanimous consent” vote prior to the summer recess, which begins August 4.

With the leadership of our original sponsor, Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) and his staff, and the assembly and involvement of the autism community consensus group, the CAA of 2006 has emerged as a historic $1 billion single-disease authorization bill for autism that serves as an acknowledgment by the United States Senate that autism is a national public health crisis.

The Combating Autism Act of 2006 was originally drafted by Cure Autism Now’s Government Relations representative and Chapter Leader Stuart Spielman, and much of the legislative strategy was planned and implemented by CAN’s lobbying team. The CAA of 2006 began as a reauthorization of the autism section in the Children’s Health Act of 2000, which was also introduced by CAN and became the first landmark piece of autism legislation.

Cure Autism Now would like to thank all members of the HELP Committee for their unprecedented commitment to fulfill the promise of meaningful research, timely intervention and an accelerated path to a cure for autism. In addition to our champion Senator Santorum, our gratitude goes to HELP Committee Chairman Michael Enzi (R-WY) and Ranking Member Edward Kennedy (D-MA), sponsor Christopher Dodd (D-CT), Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) and their tireless staffs for their tremendous effort in crafting the Combating Autism Act of 2006 .

Once the bill passes the Senate, our attention will shift to the House of Representatives where we have 136 co-sponsors to date. Visit www.combatautism.org to find out if your Congressman is a co-sponsor. If not, please contact them while they are in district for the August recess and ask them to co-sponsor the Combating Autism Act of 2006 (H.R. 2421).

Cure Autism Now thanks the many autism organizations in the community that have actively participated in these efforts and we thank our families and friends who have reached out to their legislators to help us combat autism.