ACTION ALERT: Call on Congress to pass HR 4197 - Help Victims of Hurricane Katrina!

From Backbone Campaign:

Families devastated by Katrina need our help NOW!
Tuesday's demonstration in D.C. needs support from citizen lobbyists like you.
Call on Congress to pass HR 4197!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Please show solidarity with those marching in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, March 14 by calling your members of Congress. We must make Katrina victims' demands into our demands. Start today and keep it up until HR 4197 is law. Below is information on tomorrow's Washington, D.C. actions, katrinamarch.org, HR 4197 and Wednesday's looming evictions. The Backbone Campaign would like to express our gratitude to the leadership of the Hip Hop Caucus for making this happen. Please take action now!

Hip Hop Caucus Rally: (Adapted from the PDA website)

This Wednesday, March 15th, the administration is going to put Katrina survivors into the streets to become America's new homeless--while thousands of trailers in Hope, Arkansas sit vacant (see "Arkansas Congressman Tours FEMA Storage Site"). New Orleans mothers and children will be forced onto the streets as FEMA evicts Katrina victims from hotels. Since the executive branch controls FEMA, that means President Bush is responsible. He promised to spend whatever it takes to ensure the recovery of the Gulf Coast region. He promised to ensure that the displaced would be able to return home. He has broken his promise to Katrina survivors and to this nation. This is an outrage! We cannot and will not sit by while our own government forces our brothers and sisters onto the streets.

Please take action now!
Please call your members of Congress today and ask for their support of HR 4197, sponsored by Rep Melvin L. Watt, (NC-12). This bill will provide for the recovery, reclamation, restoration and reconstruction of lives and communities, and for the reunion of families devastated by Hurricane Katrina. It will also address the issues of poverty exposed by Hurricane Katrina. The bill has been sitting in the Subcommittee on Health since November 2005. (Click here to read text.)

Tell your Congressperson:

* To cosponsor HR 4197 because it is the right and just thing to do.
* To use his/her influence to move those vacant trailers in Hope, AR, and elsewhere into New Orleans for use by those who have been thrown into the streets.
* That you expect him/her to work to fulfill the promises made by the President, although the President is is reneging.

Please Take Action Now!