"Dear VPPPA Members, Senator Michael Bennett, D-CO, has joined our longtime friend and supporter, Michael Enzi, R-WY in introducing bipartisan legislation in the Senate (S. 2881) to codify VPP. The bill has been referred to the Health, Education, Labor and Pension (HELP) committee, chaired by Senator Alexander, R-TN for a full hearing before going to the Senate floor for a vote. This bill is identical to HR 2500 introduced in the House of Representatives. As I previously relayed to you, HR 2500 was introduced in the House by Todd Rokita, R-IN, Gene Green, D-TX and Martha Robey, R-AL. These two bills, if enacted, would ensure that VPP would always be here and properly funded. Currently there are 31 cosponsors for the House bill from both parties and Congressman Rokita is working with the Workforce Protection Subcommittee to have a hearing on the bill and move it on to the full Education and Workforce Protection committee, chaired by John Kline, R-MN, then on to the full House of Representatives for a vote. So what can you do? Members of Congress, especially in an electing year, want to hear from their constituents. We need as many employees at VPP sites as possible to contact your Senators and Representatives and let them know what VPP has done for you and how important it is for your site. The more letters from each VPP site the better. Encourage them to sign on as cosponsors, both for HR 2500 and S. 2881. We are on a very tight time frame to try to get this legislation approved before the November elections. The easiest way to contact your Senator or Representative is to send a letter to their state or district offices or to email them. Go to house.gov or senate.gov for their addresses. If you need talking points or sample letters please contact me. When you send a letter please send me a copy so we can track who received constituent letters. I want to thank everyone who has worked to get these bills introduced and especially the VPP sites in Colorado, whose letters to Senator Bennett made a big difference.
Thank you,
Mike Maddox, Chairman
VPPPA Board of Directors
(210) 859-9881
Comments