50 Signatures Now on Specter-Harkin Letter

Almost two weeks ago C3 sent an action alert asking advocates to email their Senators to tell them to sign onto a letter initiated by Senators Arlen Specter (R-PA) and Tom Harkin (D-IA). This letter to the Senate leadership seeks continued Senate support to add $7 billion to the Labor-HHS-Educaton appropriation which would ultimately add more funds to cancer research.

Many of you contacted your Senators and that made a big difference because we now have 50 signatures on the letter…but we would like to get at least 19 more! We now know that Senators Specter and Harkin are not likely to send their letter to the Senate leadership until around the time the “lame-duck session” begins on November 13. This means that we have more time to work on these 19 Senators.

What can you do right now? That depends upon what your Senator did or did not do. If your Senator signed the letter send him or her a thank you note. If you Senator voted for the Specter-Harkin amendment and has not signed the letter tell him or her you want that signature. See the two lists at the end of this post to find out which Senators took what action.

You can also get your family and friends involved. Congress pays attention to numbers. Therefore, the more people who contact their Senators asking them to sign the letter the more likely it is that those Senators will sign.

Click here to go to the Specter-Harkin letter page in the One-Minute Advocate area of the C3 web site.

It is because of people like you taking action that 21 additional Senators signed the letter since the action alert was sent. Thank you very much for all you did and continue to do in the fight against colon and rectal cancer. We will keep you informed as the letter moves through the process and is ultimately delivered to the Senate leadership.

These Senators voted FOR the Specter-Harkn amendment to add $7 billion to the Labor-HHS-Education appropriation AND HAVE NOT signed the letter to the Senate leadership (as of September 26). You still have opportunity to tell them to sign.

Murkowski (Alaska)

Stevens (Alaska)

Lincoln (Arkansas)

Feinstein (California)

Bayh (Indiana)

Grassley (Iowa)

Lott (Mississippi)

Talent (Missouri)

Hagel (Nebraska)

Domenici (New Mexico)

Dole (North Carolina)

Conrad (North Dakota)

Voinovich (Ohio)

Santorum (Pennsylvania)

Thune (South Dakota)

Alexander (Tennessee)

Hutchison (Texas)

Bennett (Utah)

Warner (Virginia)

These Senators voted FOR the Specter-Harkin Amendment to add $7 billion to the Labor-HHS-Education appropriation AND signed the letter to Senate leadership. Send these Senators a thank you note.

Pryor (Arkansas)

Boxer (California)

Salazar (Colorado)

Dodd (Connecticut)

Lieberman (Connecticut)

Biden (Delaware)

Carper (Deleware)

Nelson (Florida)

Akaka (Hawaii)

Inouye (Hawaii)

Harkin (Iowa)

Durbin (Illinois)

Obama (Illinois)

Lugar (Indiana)

Roberts (Kansas)

Landrieu (Louisiana)

Collins (Maine)

Snowe (Maine)

Mikulski (Maryland)

Sarbanes (Maryland)

Kerry (Massachusetts)

Kennedy (Massachusetts)

Stabenow (Michigan)

Levin (Michigan)

Dayton (Minnesota)

Coleman (Minnesota)

Baucus (Montana)

Burns (Montana)

Nelson (Nebraska)

Lautenberg (New Jersey)

Menendez (New Jersey)

Bingaman (New Mexico)

Clinton (New York)

Schumer (New York)

Dorgan (North Dakota)

DeWine (Ohio)

Smith (Oregon)

Wyden (Oregon)

Specter (Pennsylvania)

Chafee (Rhode Island)

Reed (Rhode Island)

Johnson (South Dakota)

Hatch (Utah)

Jeffords (Vermont)

Leahy (Vermont)

Cantwell (Washington)

Murry (Washington)

Rockefeller (West Virginia)

Feingold (Wisconsin)

Kohl (Wisconsin)