Folks, I am re-posting the following alert with a change: Rep. Stupack and Rep. Rivers are now ON the anti-rider 'Dear Colleague' to Clinton! Thanks for getting calls into those offices! If you are in Rep. Barcia, Dingell, or Conyers district and have not made a call, please do so today. The deadline is tonight. Thanks! Karen, GREEN
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- Subject: Calls needed to MI Dem Reps!
- From: Karen Tuerk <ktuerk@execpc.com>
- Date: Fri, 25 Sep 1998 17:39:44 -0500
- Organization: GREEN
- Reply-To: ktuerk@execpc.com
Folks, House Democrats are circulating the following "Dear Colleague" letter asking President Clinton to remove all anti-environmental riders from upcoming spending bills. Your help is needed in urging your Representative (if s/he is a Democrat) to sign the letter. The following MI reps. need to be contacted: Bart Stupack: (202) 225-4735 Lynn Rivers: (202) 225-6261 James Barcia: (202) 225-8187 John Conyers: (202) 225-5126 John Dingell: (202) 225-4071 Reps. Bonior, Stabernow, Kildee, Levin, and Kilpatrick are already on board. Please make every effort to get your Democratic Representative on this letter. (If your Representative is a Republican, pass this alert on to a friend or colleague that has a Democratic Representative and urge your Republican Representative to contact the House leadership to work to pass a "clean" omnibus spending bill without anti-environmental riders.) NOTE: THE HOUSE WILL BE OPEN ON "SATURDAY" THIS WEEK. The deadline is Monday night! If your Representative wants to sign the letter, ask him/her to contact Chris Arthur with Representative Hinchey at (202) 225-6335. Thanks, Karen Tuerk, GREEN ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ LETTER TO HOUSE DEMOCRATS FROM REPRESENTATIVES GEPHARDT, BONIOR, HINCHEY, WAXMAN, MILLER, FURSE, AND PALLONE Congress of the United States Washington, DC 20515 September 21, 1998 Dear Democratic Colleague: Republicans are once again launching a backdoor attack on America's environmental laws. Using the appropriations process as a means to their ends, they have inserted numerous anti-environmental riders in this year's funding bills. We believe these riders represent real threats to the environmental and to public health. The Republican leadership is deliberately abusing legislative rules in order to avoid committee review and floor debate on the merits of these riders. We believe that our environmental laws and the legislative process would be best served if this pattern of legislating by deception was stopped. The Administration has already identified many riders that would be grounds for a presidential veto. We ask that House Democrats join in a letter to the President, supporting his commitment to veto appropriations bills containing anti-environmental riders. This is an opportunity to send a message to the American people that Democrats will defend the environment. The Republican leadership has too often abused established rules of the House in order to advance the agenda of their special interest friends. With the fiscal year nearly at a close, we are asking that you act promptly in joining our effort to draw attention to Republican attacks on environmental protection. Our letter to the President is on the reverse side of this letter. Our effort has the strong support of the major environmental organizations. If you would like to sign our letter, please contact Chris Arthur with Rep. Hinchey at 5-6335 as soon as possible. Sincerely, Richard Gephardt David Bonior Maurice Hinchey Henry A. Waxman George Miller Elizabeth Furse Frank Pallone, Jr. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ HOUSE DEAR COLLEAGUE LETTER The Honorable William Jefferson Clinton The White House Washington, DC 20500 Dear Mr. President: We are writing to let you know of our deep concern and strong opposition to the numerous anti-environmental riders that have been attached to several of this year's appropriations bills in both the House and the Senate. We appreciate your opposition to these assaults on public health, on public lands, and on the public treasury. We ask that you hold firm in you opposition to them, and carry out your promises to veto appropriations bill if these objectionable riders remain in them. Anti-environmental riders have been inserted into several different appropriations bills this year, riders that affect the full range of environmental issues--from protection of public lands to exposure of children to toxic chemicals. Although not all of us agree on the substantive issues involved in all of the riders, we agree that these questions should not be resolved in this way. In many cases, the riders appear to be deliberate efforts to evade committee review and floor debate. The riders that have come to a vote attracted substantial opposition. Resisting these backdoor proposals to weaken our environmental laws is critically important for our children and for our nation's future. We must support the public interest in these matters, and not allow the narrow interest of those who seek special exemptions fr subsidies to erode the quality of our public lands or the quality of our people's lives. We appreciate that you have already noted the Administration's opposition to many of these destructive riders. We urge your continued opposition to them throughout the appropriations process, and we urge you to veto bills that contain objectionable riders. We thank you for your attention. Sincerely, SIGNERS AS OF THURSDAY NITE Abercrombie Ackerman Andrews Baldacci Barrett Bentsen Berman Blumenauer Bonior C. Brown G. Brown S. Brown Cardin Carson Christian-Green Clayton Coyne DeFazio DeGette Delahunt Dixon Eshoo Faleomavaega Fazio Ford Frank Furse Gedjdenson Gephardt Gutierrez Harman Hinchey Hoyer J Jackson Jackson-Lee E.B. Johnson J. Kennedy P. Kennedy Kennelly Kildee Kilpatrick Kleczka Kucinich LaFalce Lantos Lee Levin J. Lewis Lowey C. Maloney J. Maloney Manton Markey Matsui C. McCarthy McDermott McNulty Meeks Menendez G. Miller Moakley Nadler Neal Norton Oberstar Olver Owens Pallone Pascrell Pastor D. Payne Pelosi Poshard Rahall Rush Sabo Sanchez Schumer Serrano Skaggs Tauscher Tierney Towns Vento Waxman Wexler Woolsey Yates ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Roger Featherstone, GREEN Director PO Box 40046, Albuquerque, NM 87196-0046 (505) 255-5966 fax, (505) 255-5953 rfeather@defenders.org http://www.defenders.org/grnhome.html GREEN DC Office 1101 14th St., NW, Ste. 1400, Washington, DC 20005 (202) 682-9400 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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