Dear Chairmen McCain and Thornberry and Ranking Members Reed and Smith:
We write today to express our objections to amendments added to the NDAA bill on the Senate floor that
would harm vital defense health research programs specifically initiated to help US soldiers who sustain
traumatic brain injuries (TBI) and spinal cord injuries (SCI).
Congress created the Peer-Reviewed Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) Research Program in 2008 to address the crisis
faced by tens of thousands of troops upon returning home from various Middle East deployments with
spinal cord injuries. Many of these soldiers became paralyzed and/or brain injured when they experienced
blast injuries and other types of casualties in the field, but there was no funding specifically dedicated for
SCI research. The federally-funded SCI research program was created to address this disparity.
Every year congressional champions request $30 million for the spinal cord injury research account in the
annual appropriations process. The funding has helped push science the closest it has ever been to finding a
cure for paralysis.
SCI research focuses on such areas as human clinical trials on cellular transplantation for restored sensation
and function, deep brain simulation, rehabilitation, as well as quality of life issues such as pain management
and wheelchair and other adaptive technologies to help injured veterans. Scientists have also pioneered
hypothermia cooling therapy, which is being used on the battlefield to improve outcomes and prevent
paralysis when soldiers sustain blast injuries. These are among many new promising discoveries scientists,
doctors and rehabilitation therapists are making every day to help improve the lives of veterans and other
individuals with spinal cord injuries.
We hate to think of the important ground our scientists will lose if defense health funding for this important
research goes away. In many cases, it’s how we leverage funding from the private sector to help fund
expensive clinical trials and therapies.
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