Domestic Weekly Update March 30, 2010
New and Urgent in This Week’s Update
Latest from Washington, DC
Organizational Updates
Set Up Face-to-Face Meetings during Spring RecessCongress has left Washington, DC, for the annual spring recess. Congress reconvenes April 12. While members of Congress are home, this is a great time to set up face-to-face meeting with representatives and senators while they are back home in your states. Members of Congress need to hear from supporters of reform. Health reform has been a long and arduous fight these last 14 months and members of Congress who supported reform have been attacked, both figuratively and literally, for their stance. The media is quick to cover all the negative news but there are millions of people who are thankful reform has passed. Reform may not be perfect, but it is a step in the right direction, especially for helping millions of low-income individuals and families. Representatives and senators need to know that the Tea Partiers and other naysayers are the minority voice in this country. They need to know that when legislators show the courage of their convictions, they have appreciation and support back home. Use the spring recess as an opportunity to show your gratitude for the passage of reform and to set the stage for our next challenge, Economic Opportunity for All. TAKE ACTION: Contact the schedulers for your representatives and senators to set up a face-to-face meeting while they are back home. See our Activist Milestone: Meet Face-to-Face with Your Member of Congress for tips on scheduling and planning your meeting. You can also use our online alert to help set up your meetings. Be sure to customize your request to the subjects you plan to cover. Once you get a meeting scheduled, please contact Meredith Dodson (dodson@results.org) or Jos Linn (jlinn@results.org) to help you plan your meeting. Also, if you cannot get a meeting, look for public appearances and town halls in your area to attend. If you cannot schedule a meeting and there are no public events in you area, use our call-in alert to make thank your calls. Also, send an e-mail in support of protecting and expanding low-income tax credits as part of our Economic Opportunity for All campaign. In April, we return to this campaign, focusing on protecting improvements to the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), Child Tax Credit (CTC), and other provisions from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. These improvements are set to expire at the end of this year. We will discuss this issue more on the RESULTS Domestic national conference call, Saturday, April 10, at 12:30 pm ET. Health Reform Summary: What’s in the Final Bill (March Action)On March 23, President Obama signed the Senate’s Patient Protection and Affordable Health Act into law, after the House of Representatives passed the bill on March 21, 219-212. Then on March 25, the Senate and House both passed H.R.4872, the Reconciliation Act of 2010, which amends and improves the Senate health bill. Earlier today, President Obama formally completed the reform process by signing the reconciliation bill into law. So now that the enactment of this reform bill is complete, what exactly is in the final bill? Here are the provisions in the bill related to RESULTS priorities for Health Care for All, plus some of the financing provisions: Medicaid Expansion
Community Health Center Expansion
Children’s Health Improvements
Financing Reform
For more information on RESULTS priorities for reform, see our Health Reform Summary Chart. For a comprehensive summary of the entire bill, see the Kaiser Foundation’s Summary of Final Reform. TAKE ACTION: Thank members of Congress via the RESULTS Domestic March Action. The March Action sheet urges you to write letters to the editor in favor of passing reform. Use the action now to thank Congress for passing it. Because the action sheet was written at the beginning of the month before last week’s events, we have updated our online Letter to the Editor Action Alert to reflect the latest developments. Use this alert draft your letters to the editor thanking House members for their vote, You can use the March Action sheet to brush up on the benefits of reform. Also, as noted above, reimbursement rates for doctors treating Medicaid patients will increase in 2013. However, this increase only takes place for two years, just as the Medicaid expansion is getting under way. After that, they will decrease again unless Congress extends the new payment rate. When following up with members of Congress, urge them to work with their House and Senate colleagues to make these increases permanent. You can use our e-mail alert to contact them about this issue. Celebrating the Past, Shaping the Future — RESULTS International Conference Registration Is Now OpenCome one, come all! Online registration for the RESULTS/RESULTS Educational Fund International Conference is now open. Our annual conference will be held June 20–22 in Washington DC at the Washington Marriott at Metro Center. This is sure to be an exciting and inspiring conference as RESULTS celebrates 30 years of creating the political will to end poverty. On June 20 and 21, we will gather to get educated on our most critical issues before Congress and prepare ourselves for meetings with members of Congress. On June 22, we will march up to Capitol Hill to meet with representatives and senators and their staff to discuss solutions to ending poverty in the U.S. and around the world. We will also have a reception on the Hill with members of Congress and other invited guests. This promises to be a great conference, so sign up today! TAKE ACTION: Register for the 2010 RESULTS/REF International Conference TODAY! Then urge others in your group and your community to register as well. This year’s conference will be a great event and one you won’t want to miss. Fond Farewell to Alan Gold — Going Back to CaliThe health reform victory over the last week is somewhat bittersweet for us at RESULTS. As we celebrate this legislative achievement, we are also sad to say that Alan Gold, who has been a constant and key presence in the RESULTS office for over 15 years, is leaving the RESULTS staff to relocate back to California. For those who appreciate the domestic materials (action sheets, weekly updates, etc.) that we produce to help you understand what’s happening in Washington and the tangible ways you can make a difference, you know that Alan is often the original author and he has an amazing ability to break down complex information in a way that’s understandable and compelling. He shares his wisdom based on decades of experience with RESULTS (he started early in the organization’s 30-year history as a volunteer in California) freely with the staff and activists. He also shares his willingness to take on new activities and participate as a real teammate — which makes him an absolute joy to work with. We are excited about Alan’s next adventures as he moves with his longtime partner Harriet to be closer to family, but we will miss him keenly in DC. While Alan’s last day in the DC office is tomorrow, he will join our April 10 Domestic National Conference Call which will give our grassroots network a chance to acknowledge him for his decades of service. Good luck, Alan! We love you and we’ll miss you! Senate Committee Unanimously Passes Child Nutrition BillOn March 24, the Senate Agriculture Committee unanimously approved the Healthy, Hunger Free Kids Act of 2010. This is the child nutrition reauthorization bill written by Agriculture Committee Chairman Blanche Lincoln (D-AR). Chairman Lincoln’s bill provides an increase in child nutrition funding of $4.5 billion over ten years, all financed by reallocating money from other Agriculture Committee programs. Of the $4.5 billion in new investments, $3.2 billion went to increase reimbursement rates for school meals and $1.2 billion went to improve program access and participation. The bill takes several steps toward ensuring that children can participate in nutrition programs and get the food they need. According to our allies at Food Research and Action Center, the bill:
Unfortunately, the funding is only half of the $10 billion over ten years requested by the Obama administration. Funding would have to be found outside of the committee’s jurisdiction to bridge that gap between Chairman Lincoln’s bill and the president’s proposal. TAKE ACTION: Ask senators to support child nutrition reauthorization and to work to find increased funding to match the president’s request of $10 billion over ten years. See our alert to send e-mails to your representative and senators on child nutrition reauthorization. Quick NewsApril Conference Call Guest Announced! Please plan to join us for the RESULTS Domestic national conference call, April 10 at 12:30 pm ET. Our guest speaker will be fan-favorite Debbie Weinstein, Executive Director of the Coalition on Human Needs. Debbie is a long-time, committed advocate for people living in poverty and friend of RESULTS. She has been a guest before on our monthly calls and always brings a clear and inspiring message to our network. On April 10, she will share with us her thoughts on the completion of health reform and strategies for our next legislative priority in protecting and expanding low-income tax credits. We look forward to having her as our guest and having you all call in (we’ll have more details about the call in next week’s Update). AnnouncementsUpcoming Washington State Fundraising Events. There will be two exciting RESULTS fundraising events on the Seattle area in April and May. The Puget Sound Benefit for RESULTS will be held April 27. Keynote speaker will be Mary Njoroge, Kenya’s director of basic education. Then on Sunday, May 23, at 1:00 pm PT, the Kitsap, WA, Group will be holding a Fundraising Luncheon, with keynote speaker Megan J. Miller, Director of Development and Communications, Indiana-Kenya Partnership/USAID-AMPATH, Wishard Hospital, Indianapolis, Indiana. If you will be in the Seattle area in April or May, please plan to attend. Here are more details for each event:
Please Submit Your Group Planning Forms. Please complete your Group Planning Form and e-mail, mail or fax a copy to Meredith Dodson at the RESULTS DC office. Upcoming Events(Click to see a complete calendar) March 29–April 12: Congressional Spring Recess. April 7 and April 21: RESULTS/Friends of Marianne Williamson training calls, 10:00 pm ET, (712) 432-3100, passcode 761262. These calls are designed to introduce RESULTS to attendees of last month’s Sister Giant Conference in Los Angeles and other friends of RESULTS Board member Marianne Williamson (call dates also include March 10, March 24; you can listen to a recordings of the March 10 and March 24 calls here). To attend the call, RSVP to Meredith Dodson. April 10: RESULTS national conference call 12:30 pm ET. Guest speaker: Debbie Weinstein of the Coalition on Human Needs. April 27: Puget Sound fundraising event, 7:00 pm PT. May 23: Kitsap, WA, group fundraising luncheon, 1:00 pm PT. April–May: New Activist Orientation. Four sessions: April 5, April 19, May 3, May 17. Call (712) 432-3100, passcode 761262. This is for people new to RESULTS as an introduction to our organization and our work. Contact Lisa Marchal to sign up and for more information. June 20–22: RESULTS/RESULTS Educational Fund International Conference, Washington Marriott Hotel, Washington, DC. Register online TODAY! RESULTS Contact InformationMain Office: (p) (202) 783-7100, (f) (202) 783-2818, 750 First Street NE, Suite 1040, Washington DC 20002. Domestic Legislative and Grassroots Support Staff: Meredith Dodson, x116 (dodson@results.org); Alan Gold, x106 (gold@results.org); Jos Linn, (515) 288-3622 (jlinn@results.org). The RESULTS Domestic Update is sent out every Tuesday over e-mail to RESULTS volunteers and allies all over the country. The purpose of these updates is to inform and activate RESULTS activists to take action on our domestic campaigns. |