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National Council of State Directors of Adult Education |
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Policy Alerts
MEMORANDUM To: SPOC Network From: Art Ellison, Policy Co-Chair Date: June 28, 2005 RE: Full Senate Appropriation Action – July 14 We have been informed that the full Senate Appropriations Committee will markup the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies appropriations bill on July 14, two days after the sub-committee markup. As a result of this timetable we need to be sure that members of the full Committee who are not on the sub-committee also understand the need for full funding. While you all have been targeting these people over the past month, you should review the efforts in the field to be sure that the following members, particularly the Republicans have all received multiple contacts: Republicans: Domenici-New Mexico, Bond-Missouri, McConnell-Kentucky, Burns-Montana, Bennett-Utah, Brownback-Kansas, Allard-Colorado. Democrats: Byrd-West Virginia, Leahy-Vermont, Dorgan-North Dakota, Feinstein-California, Johnson-South Dakota. If any of these Senators have already indicated their support for level funding be sure that they have been asked to communicate their position to Senator Specter-Pennsylvania. This is also the time to insure that our Republican supporters outside the Appropriations Committee have also contacted Senator Specter. Thank you again for your fine work. MEMORANDUM To: Single Point of Contact Network
From: Art Ellison, Policy Co-Chair, NCSDAE
Date: June 27, 2005
RE: RE: US HOUSE APPROVES RESTORATION OF ADULT EDUCATION FUNDING‑SENATE SUBCOMMITTEE ACTION On Friday afternoon by a vote of 250‑151 the US House of Representatives approved the appropriations bill for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies. The bill contains level funding for adult education state grants at $569,672,000. The result of the roll call can be seen by going to the US House of Representatives website. Subcommittee Chairman Regula included adult education in his comments on the floor, stating that this was a program that needs to be funded. The proposed Wilson amendment to add $25 million to Even Start was not contained in a consent agreement of amendments between the Democrats and Republicans and therefore was not offered on the floor. As a result the funding for Even Start was $200 million, the same total that was included in the Appropriations committee original bill. Thanks to all of you who generated calls on this proposed amendment last Thursday and Friday. Congressional offices know that we are out here and that we are paying attention to the process. While we were anticipating this outcome on the adult education funding it remains another huge victory in our efforts to restore the funding. We will keep working to insure that the final outcome is a win for our students. Now it is on to the Senate. The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies will be marking up the bill on JULY 12. Listed below are the Subcommittee members from which we need support for level funding. You are already in the middle of campaigns targeted at these Senators. The final action should be multiple telephone calls to their Washington offices on July 7,8 and 11. Republicans: Chair‑Specter‑Pennsylvania, Cochran‑Mississippi, Gregg‑New Hampshire, Craig‑Idaho, Hutchinson‑Texas, Stevens‑Alaska, DeWine‑Ohio, Shelby‑Alabama Democrats‑Ranking Member‑Harkin, Inouye‑Hawaii, Reid‑Nevada, Kohl‑Wisconsin, Murray‑Washington, Landrieu‑Louisiana, Durbin‑Illinois Thank you all for your outstanding and effective work since we started all of this on Feb. 9, 2005. Let's bring this one home. MEMORANDUM To: Single Point of Contact Network
From: Art Ellison, Policy Co-Chair, NCSDAE
Date: June 23, 2005
RE: RE: Action Alert on Wilson Amendment to Level Fund Even Start‑Immediate Action Requested ACTION ALERT‑IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUESTED The US House of Representatives will be debating and voting on the Appropriations Bill for Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies starting at 10:00 am this morning and continuing through tomorrow. Congresswoman Heather Wilson‑Republican‑New Mexico will offer an amendment on the floor today to increase funding for Even Start by $25 million bringing the total appropriation for the program back to $225 million, the current funding level. Under House Rules Congressman Wilson has to specify where the additional $25 million would be obtained. It would come from administrative salaries in the offices of Employment Standards, Occupational Safety and Health and the Bureau of Labor Statistics which have been increased in the appropriations bill above the current funding level. We are asking the Single Point of Contact networks to generate telephone calls to ALL MEMBERS OF THE US HOUSE requesting that the members support the Wilson amendment to restore funding for Even Start. These calls should be made today. Let me know if you need further details. Thank you for your continued support.
MEMORANDUM
To: Single Point of Contact Network
From: Art Ellison, Policy Co-Chair, NCSDAE
Date: June 21, 2005
Subject: House Action on Appropriations Bill The Appropriations Bill for Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies currently is not scheduled for floor action this week. Since there appears to be some need to get the bill approved by July 1 we are now looking at next week for possible consideration. I will keep you posted. MEMORANDUM To: Single Point of Contact Network
From: Art Ellison, Policy Co-Chair, NCSDAE
Date: June 28, 2005
Subject: Full Senate Appropriation Action‑July 14
We have been informed that the full Senate Appropriations Committee will markup the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies appropriations bill on July 14, two days after the sub‑committee markup. As a result of this timetable we need to be sure that members of the full Committee who are not on the sub‑committee also understand the need for full funding. MEMORANDUM To: Single Point of Contact Network
From: Art Ellison, Policy Co-Chair, NCSDAE
Date: June 14, 2005
RE: Action Alert‑Focus on Senate Appropriations Sub‑Committee Members Most of you have already provided multiple contacts with the Senators on this Appropriations Sub‑Committee (Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies), however since the Sub‑Committee will be moving to markup in July we want to be sure that each of the members understands the necessity of fully funding our appropriations. The key Senators are listed below: Republicans‑ Chair‑ Arlen Specter‑Pennsylvania, Thad Cochran‑Mississippi, Judd Gregg‑New Hampshire, Larry Craig‑Idaho, Kay Bailey Hutchison‑Texas, Ted Stevens‑Alaska, Michael DeWine‑Ohio, Richard Shelby‑Alabama Democrats‑Ranking Member‑Tom Harkin‑Iowa, Daniel Inouye‑Hawaii, Harry Reid‑Nevada, Herbert Kohl‑Wisconsin, Patty Murray‑Washington, Mary Landrieu‑Louisiana, Richard Durbin‑Illinois The following actions are requested with these members. The message that we are sending is the effect of the proposed cuts on the entire statewide system and the need to fund adult education at the FY 05 level. If the Senator has already indicated his or her support for the appropriation you do not need to act on the requests below, otherwise..... A. Be sure that someone from your network has been in touch with the staff person in charge of appropriations in each of these offices. B. Start another round of fax/email letters and telephone contacts with these offices. We are hoping for 100‑200 contacts from each state other the next two weeks. C. The Republicans on this committee are top priorities since, if our success in the House is any indication, they will be extremely important in the Senate deliberations. The following actions are requested from any state network with a Republican Senator who has indicated their support for our appropriation BUT IS NOT ON THE APPROPRIATION SUB‑COMMITTEE. These are Senators who might be on the full Appropriations Committee or on other unrelated committees in the Senate. A. Ask the Senator, through his or her appropriations or education staff person, to contact Senator Specter urging him to fully fund adult education. Some Republican Senators have already taken this action through an individual letter or by signing the Dear Colleague letter. Therefore they do not need to be contacted for this action. You are all doing amazing work! Thank you! MEMORANDUM To: Single Point of Contact Network From: Art Ellison, Policy Co-Chair, NCSDAE Date: June 10, 2005 RE: Clarification of Wording and Dollars Several people have provided needed assistance to clarify some of the details from yesterday's alert: The House Appropriations Committee did not technically restore the cut since the cut never actually took place. What they did was to reject the President's recommendation to cut the budget. Their action would maintain the FY 06 appropriation at the FY 05 level. The amount of money that the President proposed to cut was $363 million not $325 million as stated in my alert. MEMORANDUM To: Single Point of Contact Network From: Art Ellison, Policy Co-Chair, NCSDAE Date: June 10, 2005 The House Appropriations Committee has set next Thursday, June 16 for markup of the all sub‑committee reports. This means that contacts with all members of the Appropriations Committee mentioned in yesterday's alert need to be completed by 4:30 pm on Wednesday, June 15.
MEMORANDUM To: Single Point of Contact Network
From: Art Ellison, Policy Co-Chair, NCSDAE
Date: June 9, 2005
RE: RE: Further Information: Huge Victory for Adult Education-House Appropriations Sub Committee Restores Funding for Adult Education I am tempted to hold off sending this alert for at least 24 hours so that we can all celebrate the action that was taken this morning. But then again, we can continue the celebration while we work to insure that the restoration of our funding is included in the final budget that the President signs later this year. One person on the State Director's noon conference call today described this morning's action as a miracle. While such things may happen from time to time, I think that the events this morning were more the result of thousands of people from across the country with vision and commitment working together for some measure of economic and social justice. Do not underestimate the importance of what happened today. It is truly a historic moment for our field. The Chairman's package issued by the committee contains the following language for Adult Education: "Restores funding for Adult Education. The LHHS Subcommittee bill restores funding for Adult Education grants to $570 million, which the Administration proposed to cut by 65%. In 2005, more than 2.8 million Americans will acquire basic literacy skills ‑a prerequisite for success in the workplace‑through Adult Education Services". REQUESTED ACTION‑HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE MEMBERS We have been informed that the full Appropriations Committee will take up the Sub‑committee bill sometime in the next two weeks. It is important that all members of the full committee who are not the LHHS Subcommittee be contacted asking them to support the Sub‑Committee bill FULLY FUNDING ADULT EDUCATION. If you know that a member of the full committee is already a supporter, please thank them for that support as well as requesting their continued support when the bill comes before the full committee. We are setting a goal of 100 contacts per Congressional district to the members of the full Appropriations Committee. Some of you have already begun this process so you may have reached that number. Some of the rest of us have a ways to go. REQUESTED ACTION‑THANK YOU CONTACTS TO ALL MEMBERS OF APPROPRIATIONS SUB COMMITTEE It is extremely important that thank you letters go from students and staff in each member's Congressional district to the 17 members of the Sub‑Committee. They listened, they acted, give them credit. Letters from adult educators in Ralph Regula's district or from Ohio advocates should also mention the work of his staff person: Susan Firth. Letters from adult educators in David Obey's district or from Wisconsin advocates should mention the fine work of his staff person: Cheryl Smith. Thank you letters should also be sent to all of the 58 House members who signed the Dear Colleague letter to Congressman Regula. If need another copy of the signatories to the letter, let me know. WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE After the House Appropriations Committee approves the bill it will go to the floor of the House for approval. After that action is completed the Senate will take up the budget, using the same process: Appropriations Sub‑Committee action, Appropriations Committee Action, Senate Floor Action. When the two houses have passed budgets both versions will go to a conference committee to find a common bill which returns to the both Houses for approval, then on to the President for his signature or veto. Hopefully all of this will have taken place by Oct. 1, 2005 the beginning of the next fiscal year. This is a very good day! We should also acknowledge that the events today are a result of actions and activities that started in early February and have continued since that time. My thanks to you all. MEMORANDUM To: Single Point of Contact Network From: Art Ellison, Co-Chair, NCSDAE, Policy Committee Date: June 9, 2005 RE: You Did It!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The House Appropriations Sub Committee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies has restored the entire $325 million for adult education. More later this afternoon. MEMORANDUM To: Single Point of Contact Network
From: Art Ellison, Co‑Chair, Policy Committee, NCSDAE
Date: June 3, 2005
RE: RE: Final Push: Actions With House Appropriations Sub‑Committee Members and New Fact Sheet With subcommittee markup of the Education budget scheduled for June 9, we have reached the critical last few days for action with members of this sub‑committee. All of you have been involved in building connections to the offices of these members over the past months. Listed below are additional specific actions that networks IN THE APPROPRIATE STATES should take on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of next week. A. The attached Fact Sheet should be sent to the Education staffers in each of the offices of the sub‑committee members as soon as possible. The sheet should come from the person in your network who has become the contact with each Education Staffer. We are suggesting that the person from your network call the Education staffer telling them that the Fact Sheet is being faxed, then follow-up that call to be sure that the fax has been received. Over the next few weeks the new Fact Sheet can also be sent from the networks in every state to Education staffers in each House and Senate Office with a cover letter from someone in your network again reporting the impact of the cut on your state. B. We need 30 telephone calls per day (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday) from people in the Congressional district of the subcommittee member to their office in Washington asking for them to support full funding of adult education during the subcommittee markup on June 9. We are not trying to overwhelming the telephone systems of these members but an even flow of contacts through the three days would be very helpful. C. We would like 40 emailed letters and faxed letters per day sent to each of these offices supporting full funding. The letters can include information from the new fact sheet. D. Many of you have been working on Republican members of the House to contact Sub‑committee Chair Ralph Regula prior to June 9. You should follow-up on any of those contacts by Monday, if possible. Most of the actions requested above are focused on those of you with members on the House Appropriations Subcommittee, however use of the new fact sheet and follow-ups to Republican members in D are for everyone. As we move through the process, House Appropriations Committee, Senate Appropriations Sub‑Committee and Senate Appropriations Committee as well as more WIA action, all of us will be involved in this level of targeted contacts with individual members. As all of us are learning this essential work takes an extraordinary amount of time, but we are now in one of those moments in the process where we need to recommit ourselves to the millions of adults who will be affected by our actions. Thank you again for your dedication, your energy and your willingness to participate for the long haul. Last Updated: 07/25/2005 |
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