October 17, 2005

COHEAO achieved two great successes with initial House and Senate Committee action to reauthorize the Perkins Loan Program. However, the bleak federal budget situation, which was made worse by the cost of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, have led Congress to consider making additional cuts to spending in recent weeks.

Throughout October, relevant committees in both the House and Senate will mark up budget reconciliation legislation that has the possibility of eliminating the Perkins Loan Program. Although we have not been informed that the Perkins Loan program is being considered for cutting, we also believe that we can’t take anything for granted.

Therefore, COHEAO has launched a new initiative to remind Congressional leaders about the importance of the Perkins Loan program and its history. Attached please find a sample letter meant for Congressional leaders in support of the Perkins Program and opposing cuts to student aid in general. Please write or call your senators and House members using the points made in this letter as a base. Sending letters to House and Senate leadership and the House and Senate Budget Committees would be especially helpful at this time. A list of House and Senate leadership is attached.

Letter in Word Doc format

House and Senate leadership list in xls format

For a list of House Budget Committee members, please go to:
http://www.house.gov/budget/members.htm

For a list of Senate Budget Committee members, please go to: http://budget.senate.gov/republican/NewAboutComm.htm

If you have any questions, please contact Harrison Wadsworth at hwadsworth@wpllc.net, Joan Coyle at jcoyle@wpllc.net or Andrew Stringer at astringer@wpllc.net.

Andrew Stringer
Legislative Associate
Washington Partners, LLC
(P) 202-289-3903
(F) 202-371-0197
astringer@wpllc.net