Are your Senators holding a town hall before they vote on the immigration bill?

[Patricia M. McBride]

This sounds like a very good idea.............

 

Action Alert  melanie oubre   Call your Senators' offices and demand that they hold a town hall to discuss the bill

Dear NumbersUSA Activist, This Friday, the US Senate will adjourn business in Washington and go home for a "State Work Period" of 9 days. This is the last scheduled return home for Senators before a massive amnesty bill is scheduled for markup in the Judiciary Committee. The 844-page bill is a very complex piece of legislation that will overhaul almost every part of our immigration system. If passed, each person in this country would feel its effects including the fiscal costs of an a mnesty for most of the 11 million illegal aliens and massive increases in the number of people that will compete with unemployed Americans for jobs on every skill level. The Senate Judiciary Committee is in charge of the bill's process. Committee Chairman, Patrick Leahy of Vermont, wants this bill to get to the Senate floor ASAP. His committee has held only two hearings this week on the massive bill, cramming in witnesses and only giving a small amount of time to the bill's opponents to voice their concerns. Leahy has scheduled the Committee markup for May 9. Despite Leahy's impatience, Senator Jeff Sessions has put the mark up process on hold fo r one week- all the time that is allowed. Since the Senate won't be in session next week, we can expect the mark up to happen Thursday, May 9th. That means the Senate is likely to vote on the bill before summer! Have you seen Washington work this quickly EVER? What is in the bill that these Senators want to hide? Why are they so determined to get this bill on the floor without a public discussion? DEMAND YOUR SENATOR HOLD A TOWN HALL TO DISCUSS THE BIGGEST OVERHAUL OUR IMMIGRATION SYSTEM HAS SEEN IN NEARLY THREE DECADES. Call you Senators TODAY, TOMORROW, AND FRIDAY until they schedule a town hall or similar public event! Take 5 minutes out of your day so America can get what it deserves - a transparent and open discussion on immigration reform. Although you may not personally be interested in attending a town hall, there are thousands of ot her NumbersUSA members in your state who are interested. We need to work together to pressure Senators to hold events and to find out when these town halls are so we can get our voices heard! This is CRUCIAL!! Do not let your Senators vote for this bill without having to explain it or get your opinion. The best way to go about requesting a town hall meeting: 1. Call the Capitol Switchboard here: [phone] and ask for your Senators. 2. Once on the line with a staffer ask them this: "Does the Senator plan to hold a town hall or similar public forum to hear the opinions of the people in our state on S 744 (the massive immigration reform bill)?" 3. If the answer is yes: Write down the details and send them to me as soon as you can. 4. If the answer is no: "Thank you, I want to officially request for the Senator to have a town hall to discuss the biggest immigration overhaul in almost three decades. I will call back tomorrow to see if he/she puts a town hall on his/her schedule. I will continue to call everyday until the Senator schedules a town hall or similar public event." Call your Senators here: [phone]. Pointers: Don't let the staffers give you the run-around. They are probably going to tell you this: "Whenever the Senator schedules a town hall, it will be up on his/her website." They may also say that "the Senator will send out a press release or an email about the town hall once it is schedule." Senators RARELY do either of these, or they do it hours before the scheduled event. I recommend you nicely thank them for the information but you will still continue to call back everyday until town hall information is given to you. Please remember to call your Senators at [phone] today, tomorrow, and Friday. Continuing to call everyday is the only way we will pressure them. If the Senate staffers give you town hall event details please email them to me HERE so I can immediately notify other NumbersUSA activists in your state. If you would like to get information on the specifics of the town halls, please click here to subscribe to our Local Meeting Alerts list. Thank you for your time,