The elections are behind us and the lame duck Congress returns next week, hopefully to negotiate a solution to the looming “fiscal cliff” this country will face on January 1, 2013: sequestration, payroll taxes, and the Medicare “doc fix.” Sequestration, should it occur, means an across-the-board cut for federal agencies of at least 8.2%. Such a draconian measure could send our economy into a tailspin and have a devastating effect on FDA, NIH and other federal agencies.  Although there are many other important legislative issues to consider in addition to the fiscal cliff before the end of the year, the 112^th Congress is expected to accomplish very little. As Congresses have done countless times before, the 112th will probably allow most issues to fall by the wayside, leaving the 113^th Congress to tidy up the mess left behind.

Keep in mind that any leftover legislation introduced in the 112^th that doesn’t become law will have to be re-introduced.  The slate is wiped clean. So, if your senator and/or representative lost his/her seat or retired, it’s time to start building new relationships.  And, it’s good to rekindle relationships with returning legislators at the start of a new Congress.  NORD will help you do this by providing messaging on issues of interest to the entire rare disease community that you’ll be able to personalize with your own information and submit through our website to your Congressional representatives when the 113th Congress convenes.

And when the 112th Congress returns from recess next week, we will post a letter on the NORD website that you can personalize and send to your members of Congress urging them to resolve the budget impasse and avoid the fiscal cliff.  You’ll be able to tell them about the desperate need for treatments for rare diseases, the rare disease of concern to you and how devastating the 8.2% budget cuts would be.

On Nov. 14, the day after Congress returns, we’ll post a link here and on NORD’s home page (www.rarediseases.org) to our Legislative Action Center, where you can submit letters to your elected officials.  We’ll do the same when the new Congress convenes in January.  If you haven’t already made it a habit to communicate regularly with your elected officials, now is the perfect time to do so.  And NORD will provide tools to help you.

Remember, the authority of the U.S. Congress to act resides in you.