House Republicans begin gathering TODAY for their annual retreat where members hope to set the agenda for Republican legislation in 2014. Members will have an opportunity to vocalize their concerns and priorities. It is critical that as many House members as possible voice their support for an extension of the Work Opportunity Tax Credit in a tax extenders bill.
Supporters of a WOTC extension have just hours before today’s close of business to fax, call or otherwise contact their Republican Representatives to inform and exhort them on this topic.
I have put together a Microsoft Excel worksheet listing Republican members with their Washington, DC fax and phone numbers. You are welcome to download it here. (I assembled this contact information from data provided by Congress Merge at at www.congressmerge.com)
[Update 11:56 AM, In my own use of the fax numbers in the list I posted, I’ve found that a few numbers are non-operative. If you need to, you can look up your Representatives’ contact information right from Congress’ website: www.house.gov/representatives ]
Paul Suplizio, President of the WOTC Coalition, suggests contacting every House Republican in districts where you do business. The following is published here with permission.
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From: “Paul Suplizio” <wotc@cox.net>
January 27, 2014
Reminder:
Please contact every House Republican in districts where you have headquarters, branches, or operations with the following message by fax on your letterhead to their Washington office before close of business Wednesday:
(The Capitol operator will give you their fax number, call 202-224-3121.)
Here’s another model letter—you can use it verbatim or in your own words:
“Dear Congressman________________:
The House has made no decision on passing a tax extenders bill to renew tax code provisions that expired on December 31st. Most of these are provisions that businesses have relied on for years, such as the research and development tax credit and the work opportunity tax credit (WOTC) to hire unemployed veterans and get people off welfare and food stamps.
The tax extenders provide an estimated $70 billion a year in tax relief for that’s ploughed back by businesses into state and local economies, and will result in lost cash flow and jobs if they aren’t renewed.
Our company values tax policies like WOTC which expand job opportunities by working through the marketplace to create jobs via tax incentives for employers. WOTC accounts for nearly a million jobs a year targeted on those with the highest unemployment rates, and it has been shown to be the least costly of any Federal jobs program.
At your coming retreat, please raise the subject of the tax extenders and urge your leaders to give high priority to passage of a tax extenders bill including WOTC as soon as possible.
Sincerely, . . .”
Many thanks for your hard work in the campaign. We must argue forcefully for Congress to pass the tax extenders early and not put them off. The House might commit to doing a corporate tax reform bill and it will be tempting for the Leaders to put off the tax extenders till they see what comes of that. If corporate tax reform gets bogged down, Congress might not turn its attention to tax extenders again till after the election. That isn’t what we want so we’ll have to fight for passage of WOTC in Senate and House on every high-priority tax vehicle that comes up—a debt ceiling bill in February, a trade authority bill in March, a bill to raise the gasoline tax in May. Workforce Investment Act amendments may be on deck in June, and Welfare Reform needs to be re-authorized by September, so these are possible vehicles as well.
Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at 703-587-4566.
PAUL E. SUPLIZIO
President, WOTC Coalition
