Government Day in Washington DC

Three representatives from the Breakthrough T1D Minnesota Advocacy Team, Sally Anderson, Angie Grant and Ann Nerland, traveled to Washington DC from March 19-22 to meet with congresspeople and discuss Breakthrough T1D priorities for 2023. Camille Nash and Shelley Page, who are Regional Grassroots leaders (from Minnesota) also joined our delegation. In addition, our North Dakota and South Dakota advocacy counterparts, Marie Rogers and Larissa Luther were meeting with congresspeople in their respective states.  Our priorities included asking for renewal of the Special Diabetes Program funding, requesting support for the INSULIN Act, and requesting strong funding for the NIH (National Institute of Health) the FDA (Federal Drug Administration) and ARPA-H (Advanced Research Project Agency for Health).

Breakthrough T1D advocates from around the country spent time together hearing each other’s stories, celebrating the successes of advocates over the last year, and attending intensive briefings before meeting with congresspeople on Capitol Hill.  Monday was spent in informative briefings by Breakthrough T1D staffers and Dr. William Cefalu who is the Director, Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, along with our own Sanjoy Dutta, Chief Scientific Officer for Breakthrough T1D.  Monday at a celebratory dinner, well deserved awards were given to Advocacy Team Chairs, and a farewell tribute honored Cynthia Rice, Breakthrough T1D’s Chief Mission Strategy Officer, for her incredible leadership for Breakthrough T1D over the last 20 years.  Tuesday and Wednesday our Minnesota group met with our eight representatives (or their legislative aids) and both Senator Klobuchar and Smith’s health aids.  They were very busy days—we logged over five miles each day and worked our Talking Points!  Tuesday night we enjoyed dinner at an old ‘DC dinner institution, The Monocle.  We did not spot any dignitaries but enjoyed the height of the cherry blossoms in bloom on our walk to dinner!

Wednesday morning started bright and early with an inaugural Mary Tyler Moore awards ceremony, honoring Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Susan Collins, with special guest S. Robert Levine, MD, Mary Tyler Moore’s husband.  Shaheen and Collins have tirelessly led the way for many years for those with T1D, having established the Senate Diabetes Caucus.

We wrapped up our meetings at 2:30 on Wednesday, March 22, and headed home, confident that we successfully communicated our three priorities: renewing funding for the Special Diabetes Program, supporting the INSULIN Act, and asking for strong funding for the NIH, the FDA and ARPA-H.

Stay tuned.  You may be receiving an Action Alert for any of these priority areas!