Congress Includes Vital Lupus Funding in the Fiscal Year 2012 Omnibus Appropriations Bill

December 19, 2011

On Saturday, December 17^th, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Fiscal Year 2012 Omnibus Appropriations Bill (H.R. 2055).  The Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2012, includes lupus among the diseases to be researched within the $50 million Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program.  Additionally, this bill will allocate nearly $4.4 million to the National Lupus Patient Registry to continue to better evaluate the prevalence and incidence of lupus in the United States.  Further, the agreement under this bill also provides $1 million to continue the national health education program on lupus for healthcare providers.  This will afford resources for physicians to more effectively determine diagnostic and treatment approaches.

To read the bill summary, please visit the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Rules website (http://rules.house.gov/).