Today is Advocacy Day for the Brain Injury Association of America. Please help the Association tell Congress how very important the TBI Act is. We need to ask Congress to do two things: 1. reauthorize the TBI Act this year, and 2. fully fund the TBI Act The current TBI Act is going to expire this year on September 30 and we need a new law to take its place. Once the TBI Act is reauthorized it will need to be funded. We must ask Congress to fund the TBI Act every year and now is the time to ask. The Brain Injury Association of America is asking EVERYONE who cares about the issue of TBI to CALL their Members of Congress today. To get the names and phone numbers for your Members of Congress, click here. Type your zip code into the box on the right-hand side of the screen. Once the pictures of your Congressional Members comes up, click on the word “info” under the picture to get their office phone number. When you call, ask to speak with the Health Legislative Assistant. When you are done talking with the Health Legislative Assistant, ask him or her to pass along your message to the Legislative Assistant who handles appropriations. Here is some suggested language from the Brain Injury Association of America which you can use when calling your Members of Congress: I am a constituent of [insert name of Congressman/woman or Senator] and I am calling today to ask the [Congressman/woman or Senator] to vote YES to reauthorize the Traumatic Brain Injury Act. The TBI Act is the ONLY Federal law designed to address the many issues related to TBI. The TBI Act expires this year and we need to pass a new TBI Act to continue building on the accomplishments made so far. I am also asking the [Congressman/woman or Senator] to vote to fully fund the TBI Act. The brain injury community is asking that $29.908 million be appropriated for the TBI Act in fiscal year 2006. This funding would provide $8.715 million to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and $21.193 million to the Health Resources and Services Administration for the State Grant Program and the State Protection and Advocacy Program. This funding is absolutely vital for continued public health research, data collection and reporting, community education and information sharing, and maximizing State resources that help the more than 5.3 million Americans who live with disabilities caused by traumatic brain injury.