Friday last week I wrote my two Senators (Lincoln and Pryor) to express my opposition to the conference report on H.R. 3010 which is the fiscal year 2006 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (Labor-HHS) Appropriations Bill. It does not adequately fund National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) cancer programs.
Today I received an email from the health legislative assistant (health LA) to Senator Lincoln. Here is what the health LA said:
It’s good to hear from you. Sen. Lincoln is deeply disappointed in the conference report and plans to oppose it. It is likely that this will come up for a vote tomorrow. We appreciate hearing from you!
Some thoughts on this:
I’m glad the Senator is dissappointed in the conference report but I am espcially glad she plans to oppose it. It is easy to say your are dissappointed in legislation. More than her words of opposition I want her nay vote when the conference report comes to the Senate floor.
Since it looks like this will come up for a vote Wednesday, December 21 there is very little time left for constituents opposing H.R. 3010 to tell their Senators to vote against it. The Senate convines at 9 AM eastern (8 AM central, 7 AM mountian, 6 AM pacific) so if you want to make one last call you need to do it shortly after 9 AM eastern.
You can dial (202) 224-3121 which is the U.S. Senate switchboard. Tell the operator the name of your Senator and you will be connected. When the Senator’s office answers the phone tell them you have a message for your Senator reguarding the H.R. 3010 conference report (aka Fiscal Year 2006 Labor-HHS Apprproations Bill).
Say you want the Senator to vote no because the bill provides inadequate funding for NIH, NCI and CDC cancer programs. You need to tell them your name and address so the office will know you are a constituent.
The words “We appreciate hearing from you!” are not just a nice closing to the email. Our elected officials really do appreciate hearing from us constituents. This is especially so when we tell them what issue we are interested in, our link to the issue and exactly what we want the official to do.
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