Sen. Schumer (D-NY) released a Dear Colleague Letter asking fellow Senators to join him in urging the Senate Appropriations Committee to fund critical USDA Rural Housing programs!
Please CALL YOUR SENATORS TODAY and ask them to (1) Sign the Schumer Dear Colleague Letter and (2) Submit an Appropriations Request for these programs!
Senators can sign on by contacting Lane Bodian (Lane_Bodian@schumer.senate.gov) by March 24.
Resources
The Schumer Dear Colleague letter can be found here.
NRHC’s Appropriations Request Spreadsheet is here.
NRHC’s List of Senate Targets is here.
Sample Script
When you call your Senators’ office:
“Hi, my name is [name] and I am with [organization] and I live/work in your district. I’d like to speak with the Senator’s staffer who handles Agriculture or Housing issues.”
Once you are connected to the right staffer:
“Hi, I’m [name] and I work with [organization] that serve your district. I’m calling because I want to ask the Senator to sign onto a Dear Colleague Letter from Sen. Schumer in support of funding for USDA Rural Housing programs. These programs are critical to the work we do in your state to help low-income rural families find affordable rental housing or to become homeowners. I would also like to ask the Senator to submit an appropriations request to support these programs.”
Other tips:
- Give an example of how you use USDA Rural Housing programs.
- For example, how much USDA funding did you help families secure last year?
- How many families became homeowners?
- How many units of affordable rental housing did you build or preserve?
- Email them a copy of the Schumer Dear Colleague Letter and NRHC’s Appropriations Request Spreadsheet.
- Use NRHC Fact Sheets to get more information on USDA Rural Housing programs.
- Let NRHC know which offices you contacted by emailing Sarah Mickelson (Sarah AT Rapoza DOT Org), so that we can follow up with them.
Congressional Targets
You can find a complete list of NRHC Senate Targets and their staff is here.
To find your Senator’s phone number for their D.C. Office, you can call the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121.