[nfbmi-talk] My Thoughts On The List and Washington Seminar

[Terry D. Eagle]

Thank you Elizabeth for your participation in this year's Washington
seminar, and the excellent summary and call-to-action for uncommitted
legislators and key legislation committee assignments, to potentially
advance our dreams to reality.

A recap of the issues are helpful for list subscribers who, because of
illness, weather conditions, or other everyday life challenges, may not have
had the opportunity to attend a chapter meeting where the issues were likely
broadcast and/or discussed.  Also a brief recap of the issues, and a
Washington seminar participant report allow for 1) new list members to be
informed easily and quickly about the entirety of Washington seminar and
its' goals and progress status, and, 2)  as for the list archives, it
affords anyone reading the archived messages to benefit in the same manner
as outlined in number one.

Many thanks to all Washington seminar participants, in advancing one of the
methods of fulfilling the NFB mission and dream of equality, opportunity,
and security for all blind persons.. 


From: nfbmi-talk [mailto:nfbmi-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of
Elizabeth Mohnke
Sent: Sunday, February 02, 2014 12:39 PM

Hello All,

since I took part in Washington Seminar this year, I thought I would share a
few words regarding this important event.

I know J.J. worked very hard in scheduling our appointments for Washington
Seminar. He did his best to make sure that not too many of the appointments
overlapped each other as well as group appointments in the same building for
the same day to prevent us from scrambling from building to building for
every appointment. I also know he provided advice to someone in another
state who was scheduling the appointments for the first time. I can only
wish others in our state affiliate could express this same kind of passion
and interest in Washington Seminar.

As already stated, we had appointments with every member of Congress from
Michigan including all of our Representatives and two Senators. In most
cases, we met with legislative aids and not the member of Congress. However,
members of our delegation met briefly with Senator Stabenow before talking
about the issues with one of her legislative assistance. Other members we
met with included Representatives Upton, Bentivolio, Kildee, and a possible
brief appearance with Amash. However, we had to split into two different
groups when the Amash appointment took place, and I cannot recall if the
group who met with his office did indeed meet with him as I was not a part
of this group.

I thoroughly enjoyed our meeting with Kildee. He seemed rather laid back and
personable, and I found it rather easy to talk to him about our issues. He
seemed rather supportive of our issues, but he did not express any
commitments to sponsor or co-sponsor any of the bills related to our issues.
I was not a part of the meetings with Upton or Bentivolio, but I herd that
Upton made a commitment to co-sponsor the Fair Wages bill, and Bentivolio
made a commitment to co-sponsor the TEACH Act bill. All other appointments
were declared as undecided.

As for my fellow friends in Jackson, we could really use your help with
Representative Walberg! As usual, we met with his legislative assistant who
could be described as a brick wall. Representative Walberg is an important
key figure for two of our issues. He sits on the House Committee on
Education and the Workforce, and is the Chair of the Workforce Protections
Subcommittee. Thus, he is an important figure for the TEACH Act, but more
importantly, the Fair Wages bill sits idle in his Subcommittee within the
House Committee on Education and the Workforce. If you wish to contact him
in regards to our issues, his Washington D.C phone number is (202) 225-6276,
and his Jackson number is (517) 780-9075.

If we have not mentioned your Representative by name in our reports, this
does not mean we did not meet with his or her office during Washington
Seminar. It simply means nothing substantial came about from our meeting.
Please feel free to follow up with your Representative. The more they hear
from people who live in their district, the more they will be willing to
consider supporting our issues.

Please forgive my long post, but I hope this provides some clarification in
regards to Washington Seminar. It is highly likely I will not be able to
attend the next quarterly board meeting, so I thought I would briefly break
my code of silence on this list to present my personal report on Washington
Seminar.

 

Warm regards,

Elizabeth Mohnke
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