(UTU National Legislative Office Letterhead not reproduced)

October 13, 2000

To: All Concerned

From: James M. Brunkenhoefer

Well, they have done it again. Congress has passed a Continuing Resolution (CR) that will keep the Government in business through most of next week. So the meetings and negotiations will go on.

Next week is probably the end of this Congress. It appears that some are actually late in recognizing that November 7th is Election Day and if they don’t go home and campaign, they may not keep their jobs. Significant numbers of both the House and Senate have literally left town and will probably only come back for the final vote. It appears that some in the leadership have failed to recognize that if the members of the parties don’t go home and get reelected, then their party will be the one losing members and losing influence.

Since most of the members in the House and Senate will be home through the weekend and will probably not return until late Tuesday the 17th, we hope that you will contact their district offices and insist that they go to  their leadership and make the provisions of H.R. 4844 part of any must do legislation for this Congress. Since Representatives and Senators are focused on their re-election, this is probably the best time in their entire term to get them to act favorably. As things wind down in Washington, DC, many people are very busy trying to get many things done. Some staff has complained that they have had to stop helping us in order to answer phone calls on why they should be helping us. So, please use email and faxes to communicate with your Congressman and Senators’ Washington offices. This is not true in the district offices. Please encourage them but do not threaten them. We must be particularly focused on the Republican leadership, because they have yet to put their commitment in writing to see this get done this year.

The good news is that the White House appears to be totally focused on getting this done. So, it is no longer necessary to call there. It is now an issue of just pulling everyone together and getting everyone on the same page. Or, you might say, agreeing on the same piece of legislation. Please keep the heat up but direct that heat to the local offices of your Congressman and Senators.

UTU Main Page