JOIN PROJECT TRIPLE I -- INVESTING IN INCLUSION INTERNATIONALLY

Invest in Inclusion Internationally

As some of you know I am the president of the U.S. International Council on Disabilities (USICD). On Friday I sent an e-mail message to USICD members. Today through this blog post, I am sharing it with you in the hope that you will join Project Triple I. Project Triple I is asking congressional leaders who decide on appropriations for the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to include money for disability inclusion in the year 2017 budget which begins on October 1, 2016.

 I am asking you to help in convincing 27 members of Congress (15 Senators and 12 Representatives) from 22 states to do something that is greatly needed for citizens with disabilities around the world.  These members of Congress serve on either the Senate or House Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs. We want these subcommittees to:

1.      Give the office of the USAID disability coordinator funding for six new professional staff and $10 million to support initiatives to foster and create greater inclusion of persons with disabilities in community development and for advancement of disability rights around the world.

The disability coordinator position has been vacant since December 2014. Even then, the coordinator was on loan from the World Bank and had no budget or staff. So our request is an attempt to repair a case of significant neglect.

2.      Give the Office of the International Disability Rights Advisor in the State Department funding for six new professional staff and $10 million to support initiatives to foster and create greater inclusion of persons with disabilities in their communities and for their advancement of disability rights around the world.

Currently, the Advisor and one professional staff are able to pursue this work only with contributions from other units in the State Department and with staff from these units lent to them temporarily.  We seek a new approach: adequate capacity (real money and staff) in these offices through appropriations in order for the U.S. to have a broader, smarter, sustained positive impact on the lives of people with disabilities, a greater ability to share our experience and expertise in disability rights.

The only way our requests will gain traction is if those of you from the states in the chart below contact your member(s) of Congress and ask them to support the idea as their subcommittees develop appropriation bills.

USICD in May 2016 has written to seven key members on the Appropriations Committees asking for funding for both offices.  This was the first step.  We contacted:

·       Republican Sen. Thad Cochran, Chair of the full Senate Appropriations Committee (SC)

·       Sen. Barbara Mikulski, Ranking Democrat on the full Senate Appropriations Committee (MD)

·       Republican Rep. Harold Rogers, Chair of the full House Appropriations Committee (KY)

·       Rep. Nita Lowey, Ranking Democrat on the full House Appropriations Committee (NY) and on the House subcommittee that funds the State Department

·       Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, Chair of the Senate subcommittee that funds the State Department (SC)

·       Sen. Patrick Leahy, Ranking Democrat on the Senate subcommittee that funds the State Department (VT)

·       Republican Rep. Kay Granger, Chair of the House subcommittee that funds the State Department (TX)

The next step is for each of these seven leaders to hear from constituents directly, and for all members of the two subcommittees to hear from their constituents directly.  With volume, the committees are more likely to seriously consider our requests and to include them in the appropriations bills.  These key members need to hear from constituents now.  

We have developed talking points to help you approach these important members.  Contact Andrea Shettle, ashettle@usicd.com, if you would like a copy of either the Senate or House talking points or both sets of talking points.  Please let Andrea know the state in which you live.  Or, if you do not live in one of the targeted states, please consider friends or relatives in targeted states who you could convince to help.

This is a time sensitive matter. If you are willing to help, now is the time to do it!

 Key Members of Congress for Contact

Senate	House
Arkansas (Boozman, R)
	California (Lee, D)
Connecticut  (Murphy, D)
Delaware (Coons, D)
	Florida (Diaz-Belart, R; Crenshaw, R, Rooney, R; Wasserman-Schultz, D)
Illinois (Durbin, D; Kirk, D)
Kansas (Moran, R)
Kentucky (McConnell, R)	Kentucky, Rogers, R)
Maryland (Mikulski, D)	Maryland (Ruppersberger, D)
Mississippi, (Chochan, R)
Missouri (Blunt, R)
Montana (Daines, R)
	Nebraska (Fortenberry, R)
New Hampshire (Shaheen, D)
	New York (Lowey, D; Serrano, D)
Oklahoma (Lankford, R)
Oregon (Merkley, D)
	Pennsylvania (Dent, R)
	Texas (Granger, R)
South Carolina (Graham, R)
	Utah (Stewart, R)
Vermont (Leahy, D)

Please remember: if you do not live in one of the targeted states, you may have a friend or friends who do.  Please invite them to join the project and have them reach out to Andrea, or let Andrea know to whom to send the talking points (ashettle@usicd.org).

Thank you,

Common Grounder

Invest in Inclusion Internationally!