Sample E-mail Alerts
1. Sample alert from the Coalition for Movie Captioning
Subject: "ACTION ALERT!! Help Increase Movie Captioning"
From: name of alert sender of name of organization the sender represents; email address of alert sender
Senator Dayton Movie Captioning Amendment
TDI Editor's Note:
If you want to watch your favorite movie at your
neighborhood theater, here is your opportunity to tell your
US Senator how much it means to you. As a member of the
Coalition for Movie Captioning (CMC), we believe that all
movies should be captioned everywhere. Please follow the
instructions below and call, fax or email a short note to
your Senator today!
The Coalition for Movie Captioning (CMC) needs your quick
action. We have a great opportunity to rapidly increase captioned
movies in theaters across the U.S.
A movie captioning amendment proposed by Senator Mark
Dayton of Minnesota was included in the Senate JOBS Act,
which passed the Senate in May 2004. Senator Dayton's
amendment would give a tax credit of 50% to both movie
studios and theaters for making captioned movies available,
retroactive to January 2004. Unfortunately the amendment
was not included when the House of Representatives passed
its version of the bill last week.
The fate of the captioning amendment will be in the hands
of a conference committee, whose members are to be selected
by the Senate Finance Committee and House Ways and Means
Committee. We need your help contacting four members of
Congress (listed below) who will be on the conference
committee. Please ask them to support the movie captioning
amendment. Share your personal stories about going to the
movies to show them how important captioned movies are to
you.
A quick phone call can make a big difference. The calls are
tallied by staff and show how many people are concerned
about an issue. Call either the Washington office or one of
their home offices.
Note that mail sent to Congress is now being irradiated and
inspected, which can slow down the delivery. Action on the
trade bill may happen very quickly, so please call, fax, or
e-mail.
Sample Statement
Here's a sample statement you can use when contacting any
of the offices:
"I am contacting you to support the movie captioning credit
amendment in the Senate JOBS bill. Captioning for movies is
important to me because ..."
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Name of person contacting the Senator
Who to Contact:
Rep. William Thomas of California
Chair of the House Ways and Means Committee
(Republican)
2208 Rayburn House Office Building,
Washington, DC 20515
EMAIL:
CALL: D.C. Office: 202-225-2915 V
Bakersfield: 661-327-3611 V
Atascadero: 805-549-0390 (S. County)
805-461-1034 (N.County)
FAX: D.C. Office: 202-225-8798
Atascadero: 805-461-1323
Rep. Charles Rangel of New York
Ranking member of the House (Democrat)
2354 Rayburn House Office Building,
Washington, DC 20515
CALL: D.C. Office - 202-225-4365 V
New York - 212-663-3900 V
FAX: D.C. Office - 202-225-0816
Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa
Chair, Senate Finance Committee (Republican)
(Accepted the captioning amendment in the managers'
package in the Senate; thank him and ask for his
continued support during the conference agreement
process)
135 Hart Senate Building, Washington, DC 20510
E-MAIL:
CALL: D.C. Office: 202-224-3744 V
Cedar Rapids: 319-363-6832 V
Council Bluffs: 712-322-7103 V
Davenport: 563-322-4331 V
Des Moines: 515-288-1145 V
Sioux City: 712-233-1860 V
Waterloo: 319-232-6657 V
Senator Max Baucus of Montana
Ranking Member of Senate Finance Committee (Democrat)
(Accepted the captioning amendment in the managers'
package in the Senate; thank him and ask for his
continued support during the conference agreement
process)
511 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510
E-MAIL:
CALL: 800-332-6106 from Montana
D.C. Office: 202-224-2651 V
Billings: 406-657-6790 V
Bozeman: 406-586-6104 V
Butte: 406-782-8700 V
Great Falls: 406-761-1574 V;
Helena: 406-449-5480 V
Kalispell: 405-756-1150 V
Missoula: 406-329-3123 V
TTY: D.C. Office: 202-224-1998
Great Falls: 406-452-1117
FAX: D.C. Office: 202-224-4700
About the Coalition for Movie Captioning:
The Coalition for Movie Captioning (CMC), established in
1999, is a consortium of major national organizations of
deaf or hard of hearing people addressing the theater
access needs of 28 million deaf, hard of hearing, late-
deafened and deaf-blind consumers. CMC's goal is for all
first-run movies to be accessible to people with hearing
loss. The charter (founding) members of CMC are the
Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of
Hearing, the American Society for Deaf Children, the
Association of Late-Deafened Adults, the Cochlear Implant
Association, Inc., the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Consumer
Advocacy Network, Deaf Seniors of America, the League for
the Hard of Hearing, the National Association of the Deaf,
Self Help for Hard of Hearing People, Inc., and TDI.
For more information about CMC, see
2. Sample alert from the Paralyzed Veterans of America
Subject: "ACTION ALERT!! Support Transportation Bill"
From: name of sender of name of organization sending the alert;email address of alert sender
May 27, 2004
Congress has decided to go to conference with the
transportation reauthorization bills - which will require
considerable give and take due to large differences in the
bills. Both bills exceed the maximum funding limit set by
the White House ($256 billion/6 years,) so conferees have
to put together a bill that minimally satisfies both the
Senate and the House and that the President will sign. The
process will probably take several months, if it happens at
all, but the staff is starting work on it this week. The
Senate has named its conferees (listed below) and the House
likely will name theirs next week (I'm listing all members
of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.)
All of Congress is in home offices this week for the
Memorial Day recess. IF YOUR SENATOR OR REPRESENTATIVE IS
ON THE LIST BELOW, WE NEED YOU TO CALL, WRITE OR FAX THEM
ASAP (preferably while they are home.) If you miss them
this week, don't worry, just contact them as soon as you
can.
We have several points to make. The New Freedom initiative
is much stronger in the House bill (H.R. 3550 or TEA-LU).
The House bill also contains strong language for Easter
Seals Project ACTION. The Senate bill (S. 1072 or SAFETEA)
on its face provides more money for Section 5310, but does
so by including the New Freedom program. So while we like
the 5310 money in the Senate version, we strongly favor the
New Freedom structure in the House.
If your representative is on the list below, ASK HIM/HER TO
SUPPORT THE NEW FREEDOM INITIATIVE AND PROJECT ACTION AS
WRITTEN IN THE HOUSE BILL.
The Senate does not establish a New Freedom section, but
simply adds the term New Freedom to the existing Section
5310 program. The change in the Senate states only that a
new area of eligibility is to provide services beyond those
required by the ADA. The 5310 program is intended to meet
"special needs" of the elderly and people with
disabilities, and funding is used primarily to purchase
vehicles for an exclusive program, e.g., Head Start,
Offices on Aging, Easter Seals, etc. Many disability
organizations purchase vehicles under 5310. We support
increased funding for 5310, but oppose doing that by
incorporating New Freedom into the program. Worse, the
Senate makes public transit agencies eligible for 5310
money - this could easily displace the non-profits that now
benefit from it.
The House makes New Freedom a separate and distinct
program, with greater flexibility. NFI funds can be used
for integrated programs, i.e., directed at improving
accessibility but available for use by all. The House
committee report makes clear that accessible taxi service,
accessibility in non-key stations, vouchers, volunteer
driver and transportation management programs are
considered eligible uses for this funding. New and
different transportation in unserved or underserved areas
is critically important to people with disabilities in
small urban and rural areas. The House provision for NFI
is much more likely to result in real transportation
improvements, rather than simply purchasing more vehicles
for segregated programs. Additionally, the House bill
enables Section 5310 funds to be used for operating
assistance, e.g., management and transportation planning
rather than simply for purchasing vehicles.
Section 5310 and the New Freedom program are individual
programs with individual purposes. We would like to see
the Section 5310 program get more funding - but that should
not happen at the expense of the New Freedom program. We
strongly oppose public transit agencies being eligible for
Section 5310, but they should be eligible to use New
Freedom funds for beyond ADA-services. This is how the
House bill is written; the Senate merges both programs and
doesn't recognize the difference between them.
This message is very important - the Community
Transportation Association (CTAA) actively supports the
Senate version because it offers more funding for Section
5310. CTAA takes no position on the New Freedom provision.
While we support the Senate's greater funding for 5310,
they have the New Freedom program wrong.
Second, Project ACTION, a federally funded program that has
been bringing the disability and transit communities
together to increase access to accessible transportation
since 1988, is also authorized under TEA-21. The Senate
bill does not authorize increased spending on this vital
program while the House raises the authorized funding level
from $3 million to $3.5 million. CCD supports the increased
resources that would be available under the House version.
Your message to the legislators is simple: WE ASK YOU TO
SUPPORT THE NEW FREEDOM INITIATIVE AND PROJECT ACTION AS
WRITTEN IN THE HOUSE BILL. WE OPPOSE MERGING NFI WITH 5310
AND OPENING 5310 TO PUBLIC TRANSIT AGENCIES AS IN THE
SENATE BILL.
CONGRESS KNOWS THAT PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES STILL HAVE
TRANSPORTATION PROBLEMS. THIS BILL IS CONGRESS'
OPPORTUNITY TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT THAT. THE NEW FREEDOM
PROGRAM IS A CHANCE TO GENUINELY IMPROVE TRANSPORTATION FOR
PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES, AND THEY HAVE TO GET IT RIGHT!
Please contact name and contact information of alert sender if you have any questions.
SENATE CONFEREES
Majority Whip Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-MS)
Conference Chair James Inhofe (R-OK)
Christopher S. Bond (R-MO)
John Warner (R-VA)
George Voinovich (R-OH)
James M. Jeffords (I-VT)
Charles E. Grassley (R-IA)
Orrin Hatch (R-UT)
Don Nickles (R-OK)
John McCain (R-AZ)
Richard C. Shelby (R-AL)
Minority Whip Harry Reid (D-NV)
Bob Graham (D-FL)
Joseph Lieberman (D-CT)
Barbara Boxer (D-CA)
Max Baucus (D-MT)
Kent Conrad (D-ND)
Ernest Hollings (D-SC)
Paul Sarbanes (D-MD)
House Committee Members
Don Young (R-AK)
Thomas Petri (R-WI)
Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY)
Howard Coble (R-NC)
John Duncan, Jr. (R-TN)
Wayne Gilchrest (R-MD)
John Mica (R-FL)
Peter Hoekstra (R-MI)
Jack Quinn (R-NY)
Vernon Ehlers (R-MI)
Spencer Bachus (R-AL)
Steven LaTourette (R-OH)
Sue Kelly (R-NY)
Richard H. Baker (R-LA)
Robert Ney (R-OH)
Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ)
Jerry Moran (R-KS)
Gary Miller (R-CA)
Jim DeMint (R-SC)
Doug Bereuter (R-NE)
Johnny Isakson (R-GA)
Robin Hays (R-NC)
Rob Simmons (R-CT)
Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV)
Henry Brown, Jr. (R-SC)
Timothy Johnson (R-IL)
Todd Russell Platts (R-PA)
Sam Graves (R-MO)
Mark R. Kennedy (R-MN)
Bill Shuster (R-PA)
John Boozman (R-AR)
Chris Chocola (R-IN)
Bob Beauprez (R-CO)
Michael Burgess (R-TX)
Max Burns (R-GA)
Steve Pearce (R-NM)
Jim Gerlach (R-PA)
Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL)
Jon Porter (R-NV)
James Oberstar (D-MN)
Nick J. Rahall (D-WV)
William Lipinski (D-IL)
Peter DeFazio (D-OR)
Jerry Costello (D-IL)
Jerrold Nadler (D-NY)
Robert Menendez (D-NJ)
Corrine Brown (D-FL)
Bob Filner (D-CA)
Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX)
Gene Taylor (D-MS)
Juanita Millender-McDonald (D-CA)
Elijah E. Cummings (D-MD)
Earl Blumenauer (D-OR)
Ellen Tauscher (D-CA)
Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ)
Leonard Boswell (D-IA)
Tim Holden (D-PA)
Nick Lampson (D-TX)
Brian Baird (D-WA)
Shelley Berkley (D-NV)
Brad Carson (D-OK)
Jim Matheson (D-UT)
Michael Honda (D-CA)
Rick Larsen (D-WA)
Michael E. Capuano (D-MA)
Anthony D. Weiner (D-NY)
Julia Carson (D-IN)
Joseph Hoeffel (D-PA)
Mike Thompson (D-CA)
Timothy Bishop (D-NY)
Michael Michaud (D-ME)
Lincoln Davis (D-TN)
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