 
Posted: August 7, 2009
Contact Your Legislators
By The MRF
MRF E-MAIL NEWS Motorcycle Riders Foundation
236 Massachusetts Ave. NE, Suite 510
Washington, DC 20002-4980
202-546-0983 (voice) 202-546-0986 (fax)
http://www.mrf.org (website)
For Immediate Release: August 7, 2009
Contact: Jeff Hennie, MRF Vice President of Government Relations Email: jeff@mrf.org
With the House adjourned and the Senate set to do so any day now, your elected officials
will be coming home to politic, vacation and interact with voters. The Motorcycle
Riders Foundation (MRF) recognizes this as a convenient, relaxed, and productive
way to meet with your legislators in their home districts. One way that they interact
with a lot of voters at once is the traditional town hall meeting. However, becoming
more and more popular is the so-called "tele-town hall meeting" where you get a
robo call asking you if you want to listen in on the actual meeting that usually
took place a few hours earlier. While this new form of communicating can be very
informative, it simply does not replace face-to-face interaction with the person
you pay to represent you in Washington.
Unfortunately, the House Democratic leadership doesn't feel that way. At this point
everyone knows that Washington is urgently working on overhauling our health care
system. You may have seen some footage earlier this week of Members of Congress
holding town hall meetings and getting skewered by their constituents, who are begging
them to not overhaul the entire system so fast or not to spend any more taxpayer
money, as well as any other number of hot-button issues. Because this makes the
health care overhaul unpopular with some voters, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has
asked Members of Congress not to hold actual town hall meetings, but to instead
hold only tele-town hall meetings. In a memo leaked to the MRF, House Democrat
leadership lays out the reasons why Members should tele-town hall. It is, of course,
up to the will of the elected official to hold or not hold traditional town hall
meetings.
Now, let's be clear, this is not about donkeys and elephants. This is about you
being able to go to a town hall meeting and tell your elected official how you feel
on any issue face to face. It's about looking people in the eye and getting an answer,
not just merely leaving a voicemail with your concerns.
So here's your homework in the MRF's view. Contact your two Senators and one Representative,
who you pay to come to Washington, and find out when and where the real town hall
meeting is; then plan to attend. They may hold more than one, but that's not likely.
The MRF is concerned with a few issues that you should bring up. The first issue
is the upcoming Highway Bill. The House Transportation Committee will be working
on the bill at the full committee level in September. The current bill expires 9-30-09.
US Senator Barbra Boxer, Chairwoman of Senate Committee on Envrironment and Public
Works, has already passed the 18-month extension President Obama asked for. The
MRF feels that a year and half is unacceptable. At this point some extension is
necessary, but a year and half is just too long. Ask your elected officials to focus
on the bill and pass it. We haven't seen the entire bill yet, but House Chairman
Oberstar has some very promising motorcycle-specific language on the table.
The other issue that the MRF feels you should bring up is health care reform. It's
not clear if the votes are there to pass a bill, but Democrat leadership is working
hard to close the gap. We don't have to demand that they not overhaul the system,
we just have to look out for motorcyclists. At this point there are no anti-motorcycle
provisions or suggestions. The MRF's main concern is that it's not unreasonable
to think that at some point, someone in the government will suggest not covering
motorcycle injuries in a government-run health plan, and that makes the idea of
a government-run public plan unacceptable.
Please do not hesitate to contact the MRF DC office should you need any additional
information.
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