Autism Research Political Action Alert - Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas

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FEAT DAILY ONLINE NEWSLETTER Families for Early Autism Treatment

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" Healing Autism: No Finer a Cause on the Planet "

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EASTERN STATES SUPPLEMENT - POLITICAL ACTION ALERT

- Mississippi, Lousiana, Arkansas

Wednesday, September 29, 1999

Hearings have been called in the Senate and the House! The Senate

heard testimony supporting Senate bill S.512 on September 16, and the House

hearing in support of HR997 and HR274 will occur on October 5.

This legislation will authorize much needed autism research funding for

our children, but we need the help of the residents of Mississippi,

Louisiana or Arkansas now!!!

If we can obtain majority support among our congressional

Representatives and Senators, our legislation stands an excellent chance of

becoming law.

We need 51 Senators to cosponsor S.512 and 218 Representatives to

cosponsor HR997 and HR274. We currently have 40 Senators and 164

Representatives cosponsoring.

Please call your Representatives and Senators within the next two weeks

that are not yet cosponsors and are listed below. These hearings create

great visibility and awareness in the Senate and the House, and the time is

now to make that one last push before Congress adjourns in late October. See

the suggestions below, and make sure to ask them to sign on as cosponsors of

this important legislation.

Mississippi Representatives:

*Bennie G. 202-225-5876

~ W. " Chip " Pickering 202-225-5031

*Gene 202-225-5772

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Louisiana Representatives:

* J. Jefferson 202-225-6636

W.J. " " Tauzin 202-225-4031

Jim McCrery 202-225-2777

* Cooksey 202-225-8490

* H. Baker 202-225-3901

* 202-225-2031

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Arkansas Senators:

~Tim Hutchinson 202-224-2353

Arkansas Representatives:

*n Berry 202-225-4076

*Vic Snyder 202-225-2506

Asa Hutchinson 202-225-4301

*Jay Dickey 202-225-3772

*Members considered highly likely to cosponsor.

~Members serve on the relevant committee where legislation is being

considered.

Here's what you can do to help:

1. Call your Representatives and Senators. Ask to speak to the Health

Staffer. If you get voicemail, leave a message asking them to call you back.

If you reach the staffer, tell him or her that you are a constituent and the

parent of an XX year old boy or girl with autism, and your child's future is

directly linked to S.512 (for Senators) or H.R.997 and H.R.274 (for

Representatives) and ask if they are familiar with these bills.

2. Congress is currently holding hearings on this legislation that will

authorize research into this devastating disorder, and you are calling to

ask that Senator/Representative _____ co-sponsor S.512 or H.R. 997 and H.R.

274 and reverse years of scientific neglect. Autism is the third most common

developmental disability after mental retardation and cerebral palsy, and

more common than multiple sclerosis or cystic fibrosis, yet it receives

significantly less research funding from the federal government. Also tell

them more than half of children with autism will never learn how to speak or

communicate. The vast majority will never live independently. While it will

not affect the life-span of those with autism, individuals with autism

require a lifetime of services and interventions, all of which pose a

tremendous financial and emotional drain on not just their families, but our

nation as a whole.

3. Tell them we have 40 Senators and 164 Congressmen already

cosponsoring, and say that it would make you proud to know that your own

state's representatives are also on that list and care about children with

autism.

4. Tell them they can get more information from the CAN website at

http://www.canfoundation.org, or from the ASA website at

http://www.autism-society.org, or the NAAR website at

http://www.naar.org, or better yet, you can print out the pertinent pages

and give them to the staffer yourself.

5. Ask them to call you back at your number and let you know if you can

count on Sen./Rep. ____ to cosponsor the legislation. Tell them that time is

of the essence for our children, and thank them for speaking with you.

6. Tell them that to become a cosponsor of S.512, they can call

in Senator Slade Gorton's office at 202-224-3441. For

Representatives, to cosponsor H.R. 997, they should call White in

Congressman Jim Greenwood's office at 202-225-4276, and for H.R. 274 they

should call Andy Napoli in Congressman 's office at 202-225-3765.

7. Call back every two days until you get an answer on their

co-sponsorship one way or another. Be sure to call one of the

representatives below if they give you a clear " yes " or " no " to

cosponsorship.

THANK YOU for adding your voice! If you need more information, please

contact one of the representatives below.

Emken, CAN, 1-877-422-6228 cc4@...

Prisca Marvin, NAAR, 1-888-777-NAAR naar@...

Dayle , ASA, 1-202-312-7410 ddlewis@...

____________________________________________________________

editor: Lenny Schafer east coast editor: , Ph.D.

schafer@... CIJOHN@...

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