[AAACE-NLA] Public Policy Alert

[David Rosen]

AAACE-NLA Colleagues,

Following the good news that  the House passed its Budget Resolution  
for FY 07 which contained an added $7.1 billion in allocations for  
health, education and social service programs matching an addition by  
the Senate in its Budget Resolution comes the need for concerted and  
mass action by adult literacy advocates in certain parts of the  
country over the next three weeks. See the message below from Art  
Ellison to the State Points of Contact:

  "The House Appropriations Subcommittee responsible for funding  
adult education will be meeting on June 7, 2006 to mark-up the  
Appropriations bill for FY 07. It is extremely important that we make  
sure that we have good, solid support from the 18 members of this sub- 
committee.

   The Chair of the Sub-Committee, Congressman Regula-Ohio, has  
received the Dear College letter signed by 43 members of the House  
asking for at least level funding for adult education. We want to  
stress to the members of the subcommittee that level funding will not  
provide services for millions of people in need in our country and  
also due to inflation, will mean reducing the number of adult who can  
be served with the existing funds.

   The key members of Congress that need to be contacted by adult  
educators from their Congressional Districts are:

Republicans: Chair-Ralph Regula- Ohio,  Ernest Istook-OK,  Roger  
Wicker-MS,  Anne Northup- Kentucky, Kay Granger-TX, John Peterson-  
PA, Don Sherwood-PA,  Dave Weldon-FL,  James Walsh-NY

Democrats: David Obey-WI,  Steny Hoyer-MD,  Nina Lowey-NY,  Rosa  
DeLauro-Conn, Jesse Jackson-ILL,  Patrick Kennedy-RI,
Lucille Roybal-Allard-CA

At this point the case should be made by calls and faxed letters from  
adult education program directors and teaching staff. A focus of the  
message should be the overall need in the community for increased  
adult education funding and how many additional adults could be  
served by more federal funding.

You should also have the person in the Congressional district that  
has become the principal contact with the Member’s staff make the  
call to Washington to make present the case for additional funding.

We are setting a goal of 100 contacts per congressional district over  
the course of the next three weeks. It is important that we monitor  
the flow of these calls to insure that we reach the 100 mark."

If you reside in Ohio, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Kentucky, Texas,  
Pennsylvania, Florida, New York, Wisconsin, Maryland, Connecticut,  
illinois, Rhode Island or California, in one of the key Congressional  
Districts of these fourteen members of Congress, you should have  
received or should be receiving a contact from your state Point of  
Contact to phone or fax your representative to make the case.  This  
is a critical time for action.  If one of these members of Congress  
is your representative your call or fax -- and those of your  
colleagues, family and neighbors -- could make an important  
difference for health, education and social service programs,  
including adult education.

David J. Rosen
Adult Literacy Advocate
DJRosen at theworld.com



On May 20, 2006, at 12:07 PM, AWoodc3207 at aol.com wrote:

>
> Adult Education & Literacy Colleagues:
>
> Some good news and bad news:
>
> Good News:  In the early morning hours of May 19, the House passed  
> its Budget Resolution for FY 07 which contained an added $7.1  
> billion in allocations for health, education and social service  
> programs matching an addition by the Senate in its Budget  
> Resolution.   This is a result of advocacy efforts of combined  
> agencies in the health and human services field (some of you may  
> have been personally involved in them) and shows that these efforts  
> can work.
>
> The Bad News:  Many of you probably already know this, too, but  
> this increase will need to be offset by cuts in other programs with  
> the "Entitlements" (medicare, medicaid, and other for the poor and  
> elderly) being the most likely choices.  I think we know that such  
> cuts will hit our adult learners and their families the hardest  
> which should be a major concern to all of us.  It's hard to  
> concentrate on reading when your worried about keeping food on the  
> table, keeping critical home utilities from being shut off, or  
> obtaining needed medical care for self and family.
>
> At the risk of preaching to the choir, I'm going to add that my  
> ProLiteracy America advisory that sent this news cautioned that  
> this is just one step and there are many more to go to the final  
> appropriation for adult basic education and literacy.  Some of the  
> problems with the House Budget were already being advised through  
> sites I learned of from this listserv.  They are excellent sources  
> for keeping track of congressional budget actions.
>
> Center on Budget and Policy Priorities  (http://www.cbpp.org)
>
> Coalition on Human Needs (http://www.chn.org)
>
> My thanks to those on this list who were involved in the effort to  
> obtain this budget increase.  Let's all stay vigilant to ensure  
> it's not lost, or done on the backs of people who can least afford it.
>
> Woody Woodcock
> Central Alabama Laubach Literacy Council
> Montgomery, Alabama
>