HR 213: Blitzing Washington

Being a good doobie and researching things, I know that there are some tax benefits to adopting. I came across this blog entry by David and Cindy, and as soon as I was able, I found out where HR 213, The Adoption Tax Relief Guarantee Act of 2009, was: it's still languishing in the Ways and Means Committee in the House. It hasn't moved a muscle.

So I fired off letters to my three Washington representatives. I used my late mother's name in the letter to Jon Kyl; appealed to John McCain as an adoptive father; alluded to the fact that Harry Mitchell and his wife taught at my high school, and that my older siblings had his classes, in that letter and now represents my Congressional District. Simple, one page letters.

Then I emailed an Arizona Congressman who is a co-sponsor of the Bill, John Shadegg - and requested that he send an update since, at the time I wrote the letter, the online Bill tracker was down. Another simple, one page letter. Any more than that, it gets ignored.

But here's the phrase I essentially used for all four letters: "Since 2009 is already halfway over, it is imperative that attention be drawn to the House Bill, get it moving, have it bandied about, and get it passed before the sunset provisions of the 2001 Act take place in 2010." I also suggested that the relief be made permanent in each of the letters.

As a side note, isn't it stupid for something SO IMPORTANT to have a sunset date? As if the importance of adoption, and assistance for it, was temporary and therefore disposable! Sheesh.

I'm also going to put a bug in the ear of people who can make a buzz locally, so the buzz can extend to Washington.

As David and Cindy advocated sending letters to your representatives in Washington, I now would like to pass along the same advocacy on my page. Call and/or write your senators and representatives on Capitol Hill. Write your papers, talk to people, write advocacy groups, talk to local politicos on both sides of the aisle, make it known how important HR 213 is! Everyone in the adoption community needs to have attention drawn to this very important Bill.

Let me know what you're doing! How creative can you get?