April 8, 2008

Dear Coalition Members,

Thanks to all of your efforts we had strong bi-partisan support in the House and strong support in the Senate. Letters were sent to the Chairs and Ranking Members of the Appropriations Committee in each chamber requesting a $2 million increase for services to children who are deafblind. Copies of the letters are posted on our website.

Congressman Ed Markey (MA) and Congressman Michael McCaul (TX) are leading a bipartisan effort in the House to increase funding for the deafblind technical assistance and dissemination program at the Department of Education. The following House members signed: 1. Ed Markey (D-MA) 2. Michael McCaul (R-TX) 3. Barney Frank (D-MA) 4. Mike Capuano (D-MA) 5. John Tierney (D-MA) 6. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) 7. William Jefferson (D-LA) 8. Jim McDermott (D-WA) 9. Ed Towns (D-NY) 10. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) 11. Bill Delahunt (D-MA) 12. Gene Green (D-TX) 13. Richard Neal (D-MA) 14. John Conyers (D-MI) 15. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) 16. Stephen Lynch (D-MA) 17. James McGovern (D-MA) 18. Peter Roskam (R-IL). Final House Letter

Senator Ted Kennedy and Senator John Kerry are leading the Senate effort to increase funding for the deafblind technical assistance and dissemination program at the Department of Education. Their offices are coordinating a group letter to the Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee asking for the increase in funding. The following Senators signed: 1. John Kerry (D-MA) 2. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) 3. Ron Wyden (D-OR) 4. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) 5. Gordon Smith (R-OR) 6. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) 7. Bernard Sanders (I-VT) 8. Richard Durbin (D-IL) 9. Carl Levin (D-MI) 10. Christopher Dodd (D-CT) 11. Russell Feingold (D-WI) 12. Charles Schumer (D-NY) 13. Barack Obama (D-IL) 14. Robert Casey (D-PA) 15. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI). Senate Letter.

Thank you so much,
Betsy Betsy L. McGinnity
Campaign Coordinator
National Coalition on Deafblindness
betsy.mcginnity@perkins.org
617-972-7519
http://dbcoalition.org

Since the mid 1980s the number of children who are deafblind needing services has nearly tripled - increasing from roughly 4,000 to more than 10,000 today. At the same time the amount of federal funding for this group has remained unchanged.

The National Coalition on Deafblindness is a 2,000 member organization of parents, professionals, deafblind people and agencies serving the population who are deafblind. We have been collectively advocating for the needs of deafblind children since 1987

See, How Can I Help? to find out how you can make a difference.