Drugmonkey points us to a letter by Reps Markey (D-MA) and Bilbray (R-CA):

We urge you to join the following bipartisan letter supporting the proposed level of funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the FY 2012 Labor-HHS appropriations bill.

The $31.75 billion proposed for NIH (a $1 billion increase from FY 2011) is vital to sustaining NIH’s mission of improving health through medical science breakthroughs and maintaining international leadership in science and biomedical research.

By supporting bright and talented researchers, NIH ensures that the next medical breakthrough will be discovered in American rather than imported from China or India. Today, NIH funding supports more than 350,000 high-paying research positions at over 3,000 universities and research institutions across the country. Another 6,000 scientists work in NIH’s own laboratories.

The letter also urges the Appropriations Committee not to fund NIH at the expense of other programs that improve the health of Americans and supplement the work of the NIH, such as CDC or other medical research and surveillance programs.
We urge you to join this letter and support promising scientific research projects, high-paying jobs, and the hopes of finding cures for devastating diseases that impact millions.

Sincerely,

Edward J. Markey Brian Bilbray
Member of Congress Member of Congress

Drugmonkey also has a good suggestion–rather than using the capwiz form, email your congressional delegation directly through their Web forms.

Leaving aside the massive per dollar multiplier effect of research funding, for some of you, this could be your salary (or the salary of someone you care about). So get writing! (and drugmonkey has some other good suggestions too)

Thank you.