On September 7, the ME/CFS community breathed a sigh of relief as the Senate Appropriations Committee passed S. 1711 with accompanying committee report language that recommends restoring the $5.4 million Chronic Fatigue Syndrome program under the CDC’s National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Diseases.

In July, the House version of the budget (H.R. 3358) had zeroed out these funds in the House Committee report. Both the House and Senate reports include several recommendations to CDC, NIH, and HHS that were proposed by #MEAction, Solve ME/CFS Initiative, and other advocates during the May ME/CFS Advocacy Week.

We are pleased to see this support and growth of interest reflected in the Senate appropriations bills and look forward to continuing to fight for these items to be included after the reconciliation process in the final budget legislation in October.

This restored funding will not be official until the final budget is passed by October 1st. Some staffers expect there will be no budget compromise this year, but rather a continuing resolution that will repeat funding expenditures agreed upon in Fiscal Year 2015.