ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline
Volume 13, Number 100
December 2, 2004

In This Issue: Help Save E-rate! Contact Senate Leadership and the FCC Immediately!

The issue of funding delays for the E-rate program has reached a critical juncture.  Congress will be back in town on Monday, and must pass the legislative fix to get funds flowing again.  If Congress does not pass a fix before they adjourn, it will likely be many months before we have a solution to this urgent problem. Although another funding wave was sent this week, this is not the long-term fix that we need to solve the problem.

Contact Senate leadership before the close of business on Friday with the message that we need a long-term legislative fix to the program, and that it must come immediately so that library patrons and K-12 students do not lose vital telecommunications services. Messages will be most effective if they include local examples, either of the difference E-rate has made in your community, or of the budgetary hardships the funding delay has created.

Offices to contact include:

Frist R-TN
McConnell R-KY
Daschle D-SD
Reid D-NV
Byrd D-WV
McCain R-AZ
Gregg D-NH
Kennedy D-MA

You may call the Senate toll free at 1-800-839-5276.
Or to send an e-mail letter, please use the Legislative Action Center: http://capwiz.com/ala/home/.  

Please ALSO call or email Chairman Powell of the FCC with the same message:

phone: (202) 418-1000
e-mail: Michael.Powell@fcc.gov 

For more background on E-rate and the funding delay, visit: http://www.ala.org/ala/washoff/Woissues/techinttele/erate/erate.htm 

Thank you for your continued support of this vital program.


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Remember: You Can Call Any MEMBER OF CONGRESS Toll-Free: 1-800-839-5276
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ALA Washington Office, 1301 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Suite 403, Washington, D.C. 20004-1701; phone: 202.628.8410 or 800.941.8478 toll-free; fax: 202.628.8419; e-mail: alawash@alawash.org; Web site: http://www.ala.org/washoff.  Executive Director: Emily Sheketoff. Office of Government Relations: Lynne Bradley, Director; Carol Ashworth, Don Essex, Joshua Farrelman, Erin Haggerty, Patrice McDermott and Miriam Nisbet. Office for Information Technology Policy: Rick Weingarten, Director; Carrie Lowe, Kathy Mitchell, Carrie Russell. ALAWON Editor: Bernadette Murphy.