[NPInfo] Fw: Vote to Override U.S. President's Veto of Labor-HHS Appropriations Scheduled Early Tomorrow (Thursday) Afternoon

Wed Nov 14 18:34:23 PST 2007

URGENT for those in United States:

This vote is coming up fast - main reason for President's veto was cost & politics.  In addition to the needed funding, it also requires that research funded by NIH   I am writing to my Congressman (Obey, Chair of Appropriations) tonight trying to provide some arguments he can use to get enough votes to override.  Like most Congressmen, he gives greater weight to communications from his constituents.  

I don't think that you need to be an NLN member to use the NLN system linked below - we librarians also have one through ALA that makes this easy.  If the hyperlink doesn't come through, I've copied it here:  http://capwiz.com/nln/utr/1/OTDCHWAYWE/BJPTHWAZZZ/1558768131

NAHRS members, please forward to your faculty and staff.  I will also send you a version with the ALA link, which I'm sending to every library list I'm on.

For those who don't want to click, I'm copying the National League for Nursing template at the end, followed by a copy of the email I'm sending.  

Thanks - Peg

Margaret (Peg) Allen, MLS-AHIP 
P.O. Box 2, Stratford, WI, 54484
715-687-4976  Mobile 715-212-3635
Peg Allen, Library Consultant
www.pegallen.net pegallen67 @ yahoo.com
Coordinator, Hmong Health Education Network
www.hmonghealth.org
Health Information for the Global Village (MLA theme 1995)

----- Forwarded Message ----
From: National League for Nursing <kream at nln.org>
To: Margaret Allen <pegallen67 at yahoo.com>
Sent: Wednesday, November 14, 2007 4:40:11 PM
Subject: Vote to Override President's Veto of Labor-HHS Appropriations Scheduled Early Tomorrow Afternoon

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		Vote to Override President's Veto of Labor-HHS Appropriations Scheduled Early Tomorrow Afternoon

TO:  Margaret Allen
As was expected, President Bush vetoed the FY 2008 Labor-HHS Appropriations bill (H.R. 3043) yesterday morning. The President had repeatedly vowed to veto the bill because it is nearly $10 billion over his FY 2008 budget request. Contained in the vetoed bill is the $18 million increase for FY 2008 funding for the Title VIII - Nursing Workforce Development Programs.
The House is expected to hold a vote to override this veto tomorrow - Thursday, November 15. The November 8th vote in the House of Representatives passing the Labor-HHS conference report came within three votes (1%) of a
veto-proof majority.

ACTION REQUIRED:
With your help, there is a good chance of overriding the President's veto tomorrow. CALL, FAX, or E-MAIL your Representative. Urge him/her to invest in nursing and the health care of the nation by voting to override the President's veto of the Labor-HHS Appropriations bill.
Click here  to go to the NLN's Government Affairs Action Center where you will find a series of talking point to call, fax or
e-mail your Representative.

DON'T WAIT.

Please contact your Representative NOW!

Kathleen A. Ream
Director, Government Affairs
National League for Nursing
Phone: 703-241-3947
Fax: 703-534-9036
E-mail: kream at nln.org

	 If you no longer wish to receive e-mail from us, please click here. to unsubscribe yourself from the list.

NLN template:

As your constituent and a
nurse educator, I urge you to override the President's veto of the Labor-HHS Appropriations bill when H.R. 3043
comes to a floor vote on November 15th.  

This bill contains a
much-needed $18 million increase in funding for the Title VIII - Nursing
Workforce Development Programs -- a sharp contrast to President Bush's proposal
to cut an unprecedented $44 million from these programs.  In 1974, the federal investment was $153.6
million in the Title VIII programs. Inflated and adjusted to today's dollars,
this appropriation would equal $634 million, more than four times the FY 2007
appropriation.

Schools of nursing are
suffering from a continuing and growing shortage of faculty, which prevents
these institutions from admitting many qualified students who are applying to
their programs.  The nurse faculty
vacancies continue to grow with 1,390 as the estimated number of budgeted,
unfilled, full-time positions countrywide in 2006.  Almost two-thirds of all full-time nurse
faculty members in 2006 were 45- to 60-years old and likely to retire in the
next five to 15 years.

I urge you to override the
President's veto of the Labor-HHS Appropriations bill. 
Efforts to stem the nursing shortage have a direct and positive impact
on health outcomes and access to care for all Americans.

.

..................................................................

Letter I’ve drafted, longer but more
general:

Representative Obey:

As your
constituents, we want to thank you for leading the effort to approve the FY
2008 Labor-HHS Appropriations bill (H.R. 3043), including the provisions for open
access to medical research that I’ve lobbied for from the beginning.

Now that is
time to vote to override the President’s veto, here are some thoughts that
might help you and your colleagues gain the needed support from Republicans and
any other holdouts.

It is
unpatriotic to deny funding to the health and education programs that develop a
healthy, knowledgeable workforce.  As a Vietnam veteran drafted from Marathon County in 1967, and a retired high school
math teacher, my husband John is appalled when learning about the problems we
are having with recruiting qualified men and women for our military.   Regardless of what we think about this
conflict, we are not getting young men and women to volunteer unless they don’t
have other options.  In 1992, our son
volunteered and served in Korea before finishing college in the UW
system – this experience helped him mature into a leader in his organization
and church.  There is no way he would
have volunteered given the current situation in Iraq. 
Instead, we are getting those who have no better options for getting
training or money for college.  Is this
fair?

As a
medical librarian, I’m aware that we need more nurses, physicians, and other
health professionals to replace the aging baby boomer workforce and care for all
groups at risk, especially the aged and veterans of all wars.  Remaining WW II veterans are now the frail
elderly.  They deserve the best possible
care, based on the latest research.  Veterans
– especially those with post traumatic stress and other war related psychological
issues – make up a high percentage of our homeless.  Refugees like the Hmong who helped us in Viet Nam and those from recent conflicts
around the world cannot be ignored.

Those
serving in Iraq are surviving unspeakable horrors
and coming home with injuries that will extensive physical and mental
rehabilitation.  They will do best if
they can be treated close to home and family, and reintegrate into society.  We need funding and research support beyond
the VA to provide them with the care and support that they will need for the
rest of their lives – their injuries cannot be “cured” but they can be
rehabilitated with appropriate funding for health care and research.

Since we
face shortages of well educated health providers and researchers, we also need
faculty for nursing schools and other programs - this requires Masters Degrees
as a minimum for teaching, and doctorates for faculty roles in teaching and
research.  As you know, the shortage of
nursing faculty means that there are waiting lists for nursing schools,
something we can ill afford.  

The House
and Senate have worked together across party lines to come up with a final Labor-HHS Appropriations bill that addresses
these needs.  Now is the time to take the
holdouts to task.  Supporting out troops
also means supporting this appropriations bill.

I am
writing to nursing education and medical librarian colleagues via email lists
to suggest that they also write to their representatives in Congress, either
thanking them for their continued support, or urging them to change their vote
to override the veto.  This is vital for
our nation’s safety and security.

Thanks
again for your ongoing support for health and education – know that you have
constituents supporting your leadership in the house.