To:
Members & Affiliates
From:
National Office
Date:
August 24, 1999
Subject:
National Biosolids Partnership - Senate Lobbying Effort
Reference:
LA 99-12
Action Please By: September 7, 1999
Earlier this year, many of you helped build support in Congress for funding the National Biosolids Partnership in fiscal year 2000 by writing letters to your Congressional delegations. That effort was extremely successful. As a direct result of our collective lobbying efforts, the House Appropriations Committee approved on August 3 a spending bill for EPA which includes $1,000,000 for the Partnership's Phase II activities. While we were hoping to secure more money, we acknowledge that the budget is tight and grants are difficult to attain. We expect that the House will approve the spending bill, along with the Partnership's grant, when Congress reconvenes in September.
In order to build similar support in the Senate, we ask that you send a letter to urge your Senators to vote for continued funding of the Partnership. We have crafted a sample letter for you to use as a model (see attached) which informs your Senators of your support for the project. We encourage you to add any specific information relevant to the Partnership and your agency within the letter. If you have a Senator on the VA, HUD and Independent Agencies Subcommittee, it is especially important that you participate in this effort. AMSA and the Water Environment Federation (WEF) sent a letter to the members of the Subcommittee on August 19 (see attached) to encourage support for the Partnership funding request.
Time is of the essence. With time running out for the beginning of the new fiscal year, the Senate Subcommittee will need to begin serious budget deliberations immediately after returning from its summer recess on September 8. In order to ensure that our request receives priority consideration, please prepare and send your letter of support based on the attached sample letter by Tuesday, September 7, 1999. Please refer to the sample letter for further instructions.
Thank you in advance for your valued participation in this campaign! Please feel free to contact Greg Schaner at 202/296-9836 if you should have any questions.
Attachments:
- Sample Letter Supporting Continued Funding for the National Biosolids Partnership
This file is available for downloading in Word format or WordPerfect format. To download a file, click one of the links above; select "Save File" then pick the drive and directory into which you wish to save the file. You may also submit a letter using the Congressional Connection.
- Senate Subcommittee on VA/HUD & Indepedent Agencies
- August 18, 1999 Letters to Senater Bond and Senater Mikulski on Funding for Phase II of the National Biosolids Partnership Program (for a copy of this document, please contact Greg Schaner, AMSA's Manager, Government Affairs, at 202/833-2672).