Almost 50 Senators signed a letter to the leadership of the Senate Appropriations Committee and its Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies, requesting a 6.7 percent funding increase for each of the next three fiscal years for the National Institutes of Health.  Dated April 26, the letter was organized by Senators Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.), and Richard Burr (R-N.C.). It was addressed to the Senate Appropriations Chair Robert Byrd (D-W.V.) and Ranking Member Thad Cochran (R-Miss.); and Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Subcommittee Chair Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Ranking Member Arlen Specter (R-Pa.). Additionally, the AAMC NIH Special Action Committee is organizing a NIH Capitol Hill Day on Tuesday, June 12. The event will provide an opportunity for leaders in academic medicine to make the case for increased NIH funding with congressional representatives and administration officials.