Paul Suplizio, president of the WOTC Coalition warned coalition members this morning that the Department of Labor has recommended termination of the WOTC program as a contribution toward addressing the federal budget crisis. Let me save time by quoting Mr. Suplizio directly:
“[President Obama] has been negotiating with congressional Republicans to identify spending cuts to reduce the deficit; those cuts would become part of a bi-partisan agreement to pass a bill to raise the debt ceiling.”
“We’ve now learned the Department of Labor has forwarded to OMB a recommendation to terminate the WOTC program, saving $700 million a year. The President asked each member of the cabinet to identify savings that could be made in their departments, and one of Labor’s answers was to terminate WOTC.”
“We’re not sure at this point whether this “saving” will make it into the final agreement with Republicans which, as everyone knows, is still being negotiated in daily meetings at the White House. There is much talk about agreement on $2 trillion in spending cuts, but as the President has said, ‘There’s no deal until there’s a deal.’”
What does this amount to? There is a POSSIBILITY that the future of the WOTC program will be eliminated by a federal budget compromise made within the next two weeks.
This issue requires your immediate action. If you’ve been following the news, you already know that the stated deadline for a compromise to raise the U.S. debt-ceiling is August 2nd.
In his evaluation this morning, Mr. Suplizio estimates only a 50 – 50 chance of WOTC’s survival if we do not act to preserve it. Quick action, however, considerably increases its chances.
The coalition is organizing grass root efforts in Washington DC at this time. Across the country, however, organizations with a stake in preserving the program should be contacting U.S. legislators from their state TODAY.
Here is a short but hot-list of specific U.S. legislators that should be contacted immediately. Again, this was provided by Paul Suplizio to the WOTC Coalition this morning. Contact me and I can provide this list to you in a spreadsheet format that can be used for word-processor mail merge.
House Republicans
John A. Boehner, Speaker of the House, Dayton, OH, fax 202-225-0704
Eric Cantor, Majority Leader, Culpeper, VA, fax 202-225-0011
Kevin McCarthy, Majority Whip, Bakersfield, CA fax 202-225-2908
Jeb Hensarling, Republican Conference Chair, Dallas, TX fax 202-226-4888
Tom Price, Republican Policy Committee Chair, Marietta, GA, fax 202-225-4656
Dave Camp, Chairman, Committee on Ways and Means, Troy, MI, fax 202-225-9679
House Democrats
Nancy Pelosi, Minority Leader, San Francisco, CA, fax 202-225-8259
Steny H. Hoyer, Minority Whip, Greenbelt, MD, fax 202-225-4300
James E. Clyburn, Assistant Democratic Leader, Columbia, SC, fax 202-225-2313
John B. Larson, Democratic Caucus Chair, Hartford, CT, fax 202-225-1031
Sander M. Levin, Ranking Minority Member, Committee on Ways and Means, Detroit, MI, fax 202-226-1033
Senate Republicans
Mitch McConnell, Minority Leader, Louisville, KY, fax 202-224-2499
John Kyl, Minority Whip, Phoenix, AZ, fax 202-224-2207
Lamar Alexander, Republican Conference Chair, Nashville, TN, fax 202-228-3398
John Thune, Republican Policy Committee Chair, Rapid City, SD, fax 202-228-5429
Orrin G. Hatch, Ranking Minority Member, Committee on Finance, Salt Lake City, UT, fax 202-224-6331
Senate Democrats
Harry Reid, Majority Leader, Las Vegas, NV, fax 202-224-7327
Richard J. Durbin, Majority Whip, Chicago, IL, 202-228-0400
Charles E. Schumer, Democratic Policy Committee Chair, New York, NY, fax 202-228-3027
Max Baucus, Chairman, Committee on Finance, Helena, MT, fax 202-224-9412
