With just a month to go, time is running short for Congress to renew the landmark Combating Autism Act of 2006. A critical first step arrives Wednesday September 7 when the U.S. Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee takes up S.1094, the Combating Autism Reauthorization Act of 2011(CARA.)
It is essential that a sufficient number of committee members attend the September 7 meeting and then vote to send the CARA bill on to the full Senate for a floor vote. Visit our CARA Champions page here to:
1) find out if your Senator is a member of the HELP Committee
2) make sure they have RSVP’d to attend this critical hearing and
3) find out how to encourage them to RSVP if they have not.
Meanwhile, the U.S. House of Representatives must also vote its version of the CARA bill (HR.2005) out of the Energy & Commerce Committee and on to a floor vote. Once these steps are taken, the House and the Senate must agree on a final version of the CARA bill before it can be sent to President Obama for his signature. This is a lot of work! And it all has to get done by September 30!
Why is this so important? The enactment of the Combating Autism Act (CAA) in 2006 was an historic moment for our community as it has guided the federal government’s response to the staggering rise in autism across the United States. Because of the CAA, Congress was able to invest nearly $1 billion in federal resources through 2011 on biomedical and treatment research on autism. The law required the federal government to develop a strategic plan to expand and better coordinate the nation’s support for persons with autism and their families. Important research findings have resulted and critical studies are underway. Promising new interventions are making a difference in our children’s lives. For more CAA success stories, click here.
The CARA bill is sponsored in the Senate (S.1094) by Senators Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Michael Enzi (R-WY,) and in the U.S. House of Representatives (HR.2005) by Congressmen Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Mike Doyle (D-PA.) CARA would continue the work started under the CAA for another three years and authorize Congress to dedicate another $693 million exclusively to autism research and treatment. To date, 23 other Senators and 61 House members have signed on as cosponsors, and President Obama has promised to sign a reauthorization bill this year.
Visit our CARA Action Center to find if your Senators and Representative are cosponsors. If they are not cosponsors, find out how you can get them to sign on.
Since the original Combating Autism Act was approved in 2006 with near-unanimous support in Congress and signed into law by then President George W. Bush, the prevalence of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) has risen to 1 in 110 American children – including 1 in 70 boys. An estimated 1.5 million individuals in the U.S. are affected by autism, and government statistics suggest the prevalence rate is increasing 10-17 percent annually. America clearly must step up its response to autism. The responsibility lies with Congress and the answer is passing CARA.
