Sacramento Head Start Alumni Association

CDF Action Council Legislative Update

Jul 14, 2003

ACTION ALERT!


TANF REAUTHORIZATION IS MOVING FORWARD ?–
PLEASE TAKE ACTION FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES NOW!

*************************************************************************************************************************

The Senate Finance Committee plans to begin consideration of their welfare (TANF) and child care (CCDBG) reauthorization bill on July 23rd. However, important decisions are being made this week. Key members of the Senate Finance Committee including Chairman Grassley (R-IA) and Ranking Member Baucus (D-MT) will be meeting to work out what they hope will be a bi-partisan bill. Other Senators on the Finance Committee, as well as Members who are not part of the Committee but care about the issue of TANF reauthorization, will need to share their concerns and priorities with the Committee leadership as soon as possible.

It is absolutely crucial that your Senators hear from you as soon as possible, but definitely within the next two days, about what must be included in a reauthorization bill. This is especially true if your Senator serves on the Finance Committee (see list provided below) or has particular influence in terms of what provisions are included in the Finance Committee bill (Chairman Grassley, Senator Baucus, Senator Snowe (R-ME), Senator Hatch (R-UT), and Senator Smith (R-OR)).

TAKE ACTION:
Please contact your Senators by phone or email and give them the message below. You can reach them through the Capital Switchboard at 202-224-3121, or, to look up their contact information, click here.

THE MESSAGE:
Please urge your Senators to:
-- substantially increase child care funding by at least $5.5 billion over five years;
-- reject increases in the hours of weekly work required of parents beyond the current 30;
-- maintain reduced work hours (20) for single parents raising children under age 6; and
-- extend and simplify Transitional Medical Assistance (TMA) for families moving from welfare to work.


THANK YOU for all your help ?– we appreciate all you do.

The members of the Senate Finance Committee are:

Republicans:

CHARLES GRASSLEY, IA
ORRIN G. HATCH, UT
DON NICKLES, OK
TRENT LOTT, MS
OLYMPIA J. SNOWE, ME
JON KYL, AZ
CRAIG THOMAS, WY
RICK SANTORUM, PA
BILL FRIST, TN
GORDON SMITH, OR
JIM BUNNING, KY

Democrats:

MAX BAUCUS, MT
JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER IV, WV
TOM DASCHLE, SD
JOHN BREAUX, LA
KENT CONRAD, ND
BOB GRAHAM, FL
JAMES M. JEFFORDS, VT
JEFF BINGAMAN, NM
JOHN F. KERRY, MA
BLANCHE L. LINCOLN, AR
*********************************************************************************************************************
For questions about federal legislation, click here to send an e-mail to the CDF Action Council.

Our strength is in our numbers! Please forward the CDF Action Council Legislative Update to your friends, family and colleagues!

Our typical e-mail is about a page or two long and is delivered once a week. To join the CDF Action Council Legislative Update list, click here and fill in your information. The web site will ask for your mailing address. We will use the zip code you give us to provide you with more targeted information about your members of Congress.

Gregg Haifley
Children?’s Defense Fund
25 E Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001
202-662-3541(phone)
202-662-3550 (fax)
cdfactioncouncil@childrensdefense.org
http://www.childrensdefense.org