NEWS: Chairman Bernie Sanders Releases Long COVID Moonshot Legislative Proposal

[Dakota15]

'NEWS: Chairman Bernie Sanders Releases Long COVID Moonshot Legislative Proposal’

(embedded in the press release is the proposal)

“In my view, the time is long overdue for Congress to treat Long COVID as the public health emergency that it is,” said Sanders.’

'We cannot turn our backs on the millions of Americans who continue to suffer from Long COVID.’

"This draft proposal would provide $1 billion in mandatory funding per year for 10 years to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to respond to the Long COVID crisis with the sense of urgency that it demands.”

’The proposal would also create a centralized coordinating entity for the majority of Long COVID research activities at NIH with a clear leadership structure that includes patients who have lived experience with Long COVID."

'The proposal would also require NIH to establish a new grant process for clinical trials related to Long COVID. These grants would be reviewed more quickly than traditional grants and prioritize funding for studies that test non-behavioral therapeutic and preventative interventions in patients with Long COVID, including but not limited to repurposing existing pharmaceutical interventions.'

'The committee is accepting emailed feedback on the proposal at LongCovidComments@help.senate.gov through April 23.'

Feel free to send a message asking for ME/CFS inclusion etc, as I know many are.

 

[andyguitar]

"This draft proposal would provide $1 billion in mandatory funding per year for 10 years to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to respond to the Long COVID crisis with the sense of urgency that it demands.”

Sounds good, I just hope Bernie gets the support needed to make a good idea a reality..

 

[Dakota15]

I have a hunch there will be a lot of outreach to Congress once Co-Sponsors can be added. I hope many of us will be ready to do that too.

 

[SlamDancin]

This has been one of, if not the most, unproductive sessions of Congress in the history of the country. If anyone has any ideas of how to make anything happen in this legislative environment that would be greatly appreciated

 

[Booble]

I don't trust Bernie as far as I can throw him.
It's great to see Long COVID support getting traction in the US.
In Mid-March a bill was introduced to the Senate (by Senator Tim Kaine and signed on by Senators Markey, Duckworth, Blumenthal, Smith, Padilla, Whitehouse, Stabenow, Reed, Klobuchar, and King).
“Comprehensive Access to Resources and Education for Long COVID Act” or the “CARE for Long COVID Act”.
It passed the Senate, the House, the President and became law.

 

[SlamDancin]

I’m just learning now about the CARE for Long Covid act. Looks like more for ME on a federal level than ever before. Any insight on how it’s been rolled out so far?

 

[Wayne]

I don't trust Bernie as far as I can throw him.

Though I don't agree with Bernie on everything, I consider him to be one of the most honest, conscientious, and insightful politicians in Washington D.C.

 

[andyguitar]

If anyone has any ideas of how to make anything happen in this legislative environment that would be greatly appreciated

Find the common ground. Having a healthy population is good for everyone.

 

[hapl808]

Though I don't agree with Bernie on everything, I consider him to be one of the most honest, conscientious, and insightful politicians in Washington D.C.

Yep, this. Plenty I may not agree with Bernie on, but he seems a conscientious politician who actually cares about people. That's a lot more than I can say about most of the democratic or republican politicians we have in power.

In Mid-March a bill was introduced to the Senate (by Senator Tim Kaine and signed on by Senators Markey, Duckworth, Blumenthal, Smith, Padilla, Whitehouse, Stabenow, Reed, Klobuchar, and King).
“Comprehensive Access to Resources and Education for Long COVID Act” or the “CARE for Long COVID Act”.
It passed the Senate, the House, the President and became law.

I'm not familiar with all the details (and some of them seem very vague and I wonder how they will be implemented), but isn't this about $150m total annually to cover education, research, public engagement, etc? That's a very small amount (although more than ME/CFS traditionally gets).

Bernie's request is almost 10 times that amount (and would still be only 1/4 of what HIV gets every single year).

I don't trust Bernie as far as I can throw him.

As far as I've seen, he's pushed hearings on Long Covid and engaged on social media about it. Very few others have done so.

 

[Dakota15]

I don't trust Bernie as far as I can throw him.
It's great to see Long COVID support getting traction in the US.
In Mid-March a bill was introduced to the Senate (by Senator Tim Kaine and signed on by Senators Markey, Duckworth, Blumenthal, Smith, Padilla, Whitehouse, Stabenow, Reed, Klobuchar, and King).
“Comprehensive Access to Resources and Education for Long COVID Act” or the “CARE for Long COVID Act”.
It passed the Senate, the House, the President and became law.

Do you have any link proving this? I may have missed that & is news to me.

 

[hapl808]

In Mid-March a bill was introduced to the Senate (by Senator Tim Kaine and signed on by Senators Markey, Duckworth, Blumenthal, Smith, Padilla, Whitehouse, Stabenow, Reed, Klobuchar, and King).
“Comprehensive Access to Resources and Education for Long COVID Act” or the “CARE for Long COVID Act”.
It passed the Senate, the House, the President and became law.

Do you have any link proving this? I may have missed that & is news to me.

I was focused on what the bill proposed - $150m budget for education, disparity research, etc. But did it pass through Congress? I can only find that the bill was introduced - doesn't appear to be a record of it passing Senate or the House - and I think people would've talked about it more if it were passed?

https://www.billtrack50.com/billdetail/1607232 (This was March…of 2023. No further action in the last year?)

I think Bernie's proposal sounds much more serious to me.

 

[Treeman]

From the perspective of fatigue (in LC) it's pleasing that in the initial stages it's becoming more supported.

What always strikes me unfathomable is that fatigue is probably the most common symptom of all illnesses. How come the human species haven't yet figured it out?

The majority of long term chronic illnesses have fatigue as an issue.

One of the disappointments for me is that more coordinated collaborative work hasn't been carried out, not just on a national scale but global and across illnesses.

 

[Nord Wolf]

I don't trust Bernie as far as I can throw him.

Though I don't agree with Bernie on everything, I consider him to be one of the most honest, conscientious, and insightful politicians in Washington D.C.

Plenty I may not agree with Bernie on, but he seems a conscientious politician who actually cares about people. That's a lot more than I can say about most of the democratic or republican politicians we have in power.

I live in VT, and there's nothing honest about the guy. This isn't a political forum so I won't lay out details that Vermonters witnessed for years...
However, if anyone is willing to push agendas to get funding and attention for any chronic disease, I'm all for it. Even crooks can occasionally make a change for the better. Time will tell.

 

[hapl808]

I live in VT, and there's nothing honest about the guy. This isn't a political forum so I won't lay out details that Vermonters witnessed for years...
However, if anyone is willing to push agendas to get funding and attention for any chronic disease, I'm all for it. Even crooks can occasionally make a change for the better. Time will tell.

That may be - I don't live in VT. What he talks about and advocates for tends to be pretty decent stuff.

But in this case, I absolutely do not care. Like you said - if anyone pushes the agenda, they will get my support. If Trump becomes a champion of chronic illness research, I will vote for him in a heartbeat.

I am a one issue voter. The only thing I care about is medical research, because I don't really have any life without that. Bernie is pushing $1b annually for Long Covid research. It's not even a big sum, but it's more than anyone else.

 

[Booble]

I live in VT, and there's nothing honest about the guy. This isn't a political forum so I won't lay out details that Vermonters witnessed for years...
However, if anyone is willing to push agendas to get funding and attention for any chronic disease, I'm all for it. Even crooks can occasionally make a change for the better. Time will tell.

My thoughts exactly.
I'm assuming he's taking credit for other people's work but whatever.

 

[Booble]

Do you have any link proving this? I may have missed that & is news to me.

https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/801

 

[hapl808]

https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/801

Unless I'm misreading, the link shows the bill was introduced but has yet to make it through Senate, then House, then being signed by the President.

It doesn't look like it's that much closer to being law than Bernie's bill (it has been introduced - but no further action).

 

[Rufous McKinney]

the link shows the bill was introduced

no action since march 2023. Tic Tok.

Meanwhile, we lack moderators currently. Political discussions are not appropriate here on the PR. See rules.

I feel offended by off the cuff remarks regarding the primary Senator who works to address our illness.

I am extremely grateful to Senator Sanders, and Senators Markley

 

[SlamDancin]

Imagine how little you can trust all other politicians doing literally nothing for us at all

 

[Nord Wolf]

Meanwhile, we lack moderators currently. Political discussions are not appropriate here on the PR. See rules.

I feel offended by off the cuff remarks regarding the primary Senator who works to address our illness.

“Off the cuff” I assure it was not in relation to my statement. I have very real personal experience with Mr. S concerning my health, M.E., medical compensation, and 18 years of country service which led me down this path. The interactions ended up causing me excessive stress and strife for a couple months (all while dealing with rising health issues) before everything resolved, and not by him. My brief comment was solidly based within these experiences. I’ve never posted about them here on PR because even though it is absolutely ME/CFS related, it is also “political” (which any thread even mentioning a politician or law could be considered if you want to be so picky), and people seem to get all too easily offended by others’ opinions.

Though, through private message I’d be happy to share said story if anyone wishes further elaboration. But not tonight as I’m exhausted, in pain, and need to retire for the night.

And as I said, if he can keep his word and manage to raise money for research, then excellent. The more the better and it is action much needed to be instigated by far more people of influence.