On March 23, ASHA leaders made over 400 visits on Capitol Hill to advocate for a number of key issues important to ASHA members in conjunction with the 2007 Spring Legislative Council meeting. Last year's visits by ASHA leadership resulted in over 110 co-sponsors for ASHA-supported legislation. To supplement these congressional visits over the next few weeks, ASHA will be sending out a number of constituency-segmented, legislative action alerts.
This year's ASHA leadership Capitol Hill visits focused on: SLP Medicare outpatient supplier status; direct access to audiologists; early hearing detection & intervention (EHDI); increasing IDEA funding; and loan forgiveness for SLPs who will work in high need schools. To learn more about these issues, please visit ASHA's Take Action Web site.
An early summer grassroots campaign is also being planned to help you set-up congressional visits in the local district offices of your federal lawmakers during their August recess. More information and a step-by step guide will be available in late spring. For further information, please contact Deborah Darcy, ASHA's Director of Grassroots Advocacy, via e-mail at ddarcy@asha.org or by phone at 800-498-2071, ext. 4427.
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