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STOP D.C. VOUCHERS Urges You to Join the Anti-voucher Community At this Critical Moment:
Please Call Congress Now to Defeat the September 4th DC Voucher Bill in the House:
STOP D.C. VOUCHERS Announces
(www.stopdcvouchers.org for more information)
Status of D.C. Vouchers: Call Now! We Still Have A Fighting Chance!
September 2, 2003. Vouchers are not dead in Congress yet, but we still have a chance to defeat them! If the voucher bill passes, it will herald the erosion of public education for poor, disadvantaged and minority children starting in Washington DC and then across the nation.
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
Call Your own Congressman AND call key members of the Senate to stop D.C. vouchers. See telephone numbers below.
Tell your friends and colleagues. Forward them this email, or use the form at www.stopdcvouchers.org/callcongressnow.htm.
WHAT SHOULD YOU SAY TO CONGRESSIONAL OFFICES WHEN CALLING?
Here is what you may consider saying to the staff of congressional offices:
"Hello. My name is ……. I live in ...... . .. My zip code is .... I am calling to urge the Member of Congress to vote against school vouchers for Washington, D.C. Thank you."
WHAT ARE THE TELEPHONE NUMBERS OF MEMBERS OF CONGRESS?
D.C. Metro area congressmen. Please urge your member to stop the voucher bill on the floor of the House or call (202)224-3121, for the Capitol switchboard to connect you.
Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.-8th)Phone: (202)225-4376 Rep. Steny Hoyer (D Md-5th)Phone: (202) 225-4131 Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.- 11th District)Phone: (202) 225-1492 Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA 10th)Phone: (202) 225-5136 Rep. Albert Wynn (D-MD 4th)Phone: (202) 225-8699. If you live in Washington DC, please do your best to call all of the above.
Call these Senators to register your opposition to the voucher bill in the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Senator Feinstein (D- Ca) Phone: (202)224-3841. Senator Specter (R-Pa) at (202)224-4254 Senator Mary Landrieu at (202) 224-5824. Senator Durbin (D- Ill) at (202)224-3121 Senator Robert Byrd (D- WV) at (202)224-3954 Senator Conrad Burns (R-Mt.) at 202-224-2644 Senator Christopher Bond (R-Mo.) at (202)224-5721. Senator Ben Campbell (R-Co) at 202-224-5852 Why Call Your Congressman (Representative in the House)? When Congress returns from its summer recess, the full House will vote on the D.C. voucher bill, which has been attached to the FY 2004 D.C. budget bill. We are making such headway against the bill that the conservatives pushing the bill failed to get it past the House before the summer recess and held up the entire D.C. budget bill because of it. CALL NOW. Tell your Congressman to vote 'no' to the voucher program, and to vote yes to amendments to eliminate it from the bill. See above for a sample message to give when you call Congress.
Why Call Key Members of the Senate?
Senator Dianne Feinstein is a Democrat who is considering reversing her 30 year record of opposition to vouchers. She is a swing vote on the voucher issue; without her, WE WILL LOSE the voucher battle in the Senate Appropriations committee. Sen. Feinstein believes that Mayor Williams speaks for the D.C. community. Senator Arlen Specter, a Republican from Pennsylvania, is committed to voting with Democrats against vouchers.
Call the Senate and tell Senator Feinstein that Mayor speaks only for himself. Thank Republican Senator Arlen Specter for opposing vouchers for D.C. schools. Let's stop the vouchers in the Senate, right in the Senate Appropriations committee!
Why Lobby Both the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate?
A bill becomes a law by either the House or the Senate passing the bill and then getting the other chamber (the Senate or House) to approve the same legislation that they have. (Once it passes both Senate and the House, it then gets approved by the President and becomes law). So, we must focus on stopping the voucher bill in both the Senate and the House; passage in either could mean the bill becomes a law because much of our battle has been lost by that point. Let's not lose, let's keep fighting. CALL NOW!
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See the Legislative Background of the DC voucher plans in Congress. |