This week, both the House of Representatives and the Senate are not in session. U.S. Legislators are back in their home districts holding in-state meetings and town hall events to find out what their constituents need. This is their first recess since taking the oath of office in January 2013. While your members are at home in their districts, we encourage you to attend their meetings and events and tell them about the policy issues of concern to NCIL and people with disabilities nationally.
Congressional members will return to Washington, DC on Monday, February 25. Upon their return, they have approximately four days to resolve issues with the Budget Control Act of 2012.
On January 2, the final day of the 112th Congress, those issues were delayed through resolution. In that resolution, the sequestration deadline was postponed until March 1. If Congress does not agree on a budget before March 1, there will be across the board cuts to multiple service programs throughout the government. Read more about sequestration and its possible impact on Independent Living.
This national budget discussion will revolve around deficit reduction and new revenue to continue services and programs. For more information on the budget debate, please see A Roadmap to the 2013 Federal Budget Debates.
We also ask that you invite your Congressional Leaders and their staff to attend the NCIL Congressional Reception, which will be held next Wednesday, February 27th, 4:30 – 6:30pm in the Capitol Visitor Center Rooms 201-00. This will give them an opportunity to meet NCIL Board and staff and find out more about our policy agenda for the 113th Congressional session.
We have a number of policy initiatives we want to achieve in the 113th Congress and the grassroots advocacy of NCIL members is imperative to that work. The most important thing you can do right now is outreach to your Congressional leaders both here in Washington, DC and in your districts.
Thank you for your hard work! For more information on this subject, please contact Dara Baldwin, NCIL Policy Analyst, at [email protected].
