ana needs you to help advocate for increased nurse education funding! ask your representative to sign the capps/whitfield dear colleague letter. members of congress need to sign the letter by april 6. background: on march 18, 2005 representatives lois capps, rn (d-ca) and ed whitfield (r-ky) sent a letter to the house of representatives soliciting support for a $24 million (16%) increase in funding for nursing workforce development programs. this "dear colleague" solicitation asks other representatives to sign-on to a letter indicating their support for $175 million in fy 2006 funding for the programs funding through title viii of the public health service act. the more members of congress who sign onto the capps/whitfield letter, the more likely it is that these programs will receive a funding increase. president bush has asked for a funding cut for these programs. what you can do urge your members of congress them to sign the capps/whitfield letter---the deadline is wednesday, april 6th, 2005.log on to the funding for nurse education page of the ana government affairs website to access a sample letter that you can personalize and e-mail (just click the "write a message" button at the very bottom of the page.call your member of congress through the u.s capitol switchboard (202-224-3121) spread the word--ask friends and colleagues to contact their members of congress as well. see: ana's govenment affairs page "funding for nursing workforce development"