MDF advocates from all 50 states sent 2,010 messages to Congress in support of our campaign to include $10 million in new myotonic dystrophy (DM) research funding as part of the fiscal year 2027 Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program (CDMRP). Twelve Senators signed Senator Amy Klobuchar’s (D-MN) letter, and seventeen U.S. Representatives signed Congressman Jared Moskowitz’s (D-FL) letter to the Senate and House Appropriations committees. In total, 29 members of Congress signed letters of support, doubling the support we secured in 2025!
What Does This Mean?
Letters to congressional committees are routinely used to communicate support for an issue. While there is no magic number of signatures on a congressional letter that can guarantee success, our support has increased dramatically! More and more members of Congress are learning about the challenges of living with myotonic dystrophy, the need for increased research funding, and the lack of FDA-approved treatments.
What Happens Next?
The House and Senate Appropriations committees will now begin drafting their spending bills and making decisions about which congressional requests they can fund given limited budgets. We anticipate the House Appropriations committee will consider its bill funding CDMRP in late June and the Senate will act on its bill in late July. Our request must be included in at least one of these bills to have a chance to be included in a final budget agreement, which is anticipated in late fall.
MDF staff and volunteers will remain engaged with key congressional decision makers as this process moves forward. In the meantime, join us in thanking the 29 Senators and Representatives who signed these letters of support. We also encourage advocates to meet with their Senators‘ and Representatives‘ offices over the summer to continue to build awareness and relationships, even if they declined to sign these letters of support. It is important for congressional offices to keep hearing from persistent voices for increased myotonic dystrophy research funding.
Thank you for continuing to support these efforts to increase DM research funding!
Click here to learn more about MDF’s advocacy efforts.
Members of Congress Who Signed Letters of Support
MDF thanks the 29 Senators and U.S. Representatives who signed letters supporting $10 million in new myotonic dystrophy research funding.
United States Senators
- Michael F. Bennet (Colorado)
- Raphael Warnock (Georgia)
- Edward J. Markey (Massachusetts)
- Angela D. Alsobrooks (Maryland)
- Chris Van Hollen (Maryland)
- Elissa Slotkin (Michigan)
- Amy Klobuchar (Minnesota)
- Kevin Cramer (North Dakota)
- Kirsten Gillibrand (New York)
- Jeffrey A. Merkley (Oregon)
- Mike Rounds (South Dakota)
- Tim Kaine (Virginia)
U.S. Representatives
- Jimmy Panetta (California)
- George Whitesides (California)
- John B. Larson (Connecticut)
- Jared Moskowitz (Florida)
- Jonathan L. Jackson (Illinois)
- André Carson (Indiana)
- James P. McGovern (Massachusetts)
- Debbie Dingell (Michigan)
- Angie Craig (Minnesota)
- Brad Finstad (Minnesota)
- Kelly Morrison (Minnesota)
- Maggie Goodlander (New Hampshire)
- Steven Horsford (Nevada)
- Paul D. Tonko (New York)
- Brian K. Fitzpatrick (Pennsylvania)
- Dusty Johnson (South Dakota)
- Jen A. Kiggans (Virginia)
