WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D-NY17/Rockland-Westchester), Chair of the House Appropriations Committee, issued the following statement on her historic victory in the Fiscal Year 2020 spending bill:
“Gun violence is a public health emergency. After years of obstruction from Republicans and the NRA, as the Chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee, I secured a historic $25 million investment for gun violence prevention research.
“Nearly 40,000 Americans lose their lives at the hands of firearms each year and more are gravely injured. Since 1996, I have been fighting to give public health researchers the tools to study the causes of firearm injury in hopes that more Americans can be spared from violence, suicide, and firearm-related accidents.
“The Fiscal Year 2020 spending bill will include $12.5 million for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and $12.5 million for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to conduct evidence-based research on gun violence prevention to combat this public health emergency. With this investment, the best public health researchers in the country will be put to work to identify ways to reduce injury and death due to firearms.”
