Today's meeting with Senator Cornyn's staff

[Hypnotic Exotic]

I met with a member of Senator Cornyn's (Republican from Texas) staff today on S373. He stated that at first glance it seemed pretty straight forward. However, after receiving my information, he had a much greater understanding of the bill and thinks the senator is likely to oppose. It is vitally important that you set up a meeting. It only took 30 minutes and the interaction was invaluable. Here are a couple key points that might help those of you who have not met yet:

1) The Department of Commerce's opposition is key. The fact that they are opposing reiterates the negative impact on small businesses which Senator Cornyn strongly opposes. This point more than any other drove the point home.

2) The USGS report did not undergo a peer review and is not a "white paper" but instead relied on external sources. The person I spoke with as well as myself are college grads so I compared it to a thorough graduate level paper, hardly something that you would use as justification for a bill of this magnitude and he definitely got what I was saying.

3) He wanted to know what an acceptable compromise would be. I referenced the House bill which was narrowed down to Burms and Afrocks and that we would like this one narrowed as well which the Department of Commerce supports. But I stated that we would only support an importation ban, we do not support any restriction on interstate commerce. Before I get raked over the coals for not stating that we don't want to compromise and only want the bill killed outright, if you really think nothing is going to pass with a Democrat majority, you're kidding yourself. If the worst we get is an importation ban on one or two snakes, I would call that a victory. I also stated that any inclusion of the boa constrictor is completely unacceptable. This snake makes up a huge part of the pet trade and the industry could not recover from a ban on them. I also pointed out that they already inhabit Mexico and could invade on their own and that has not happened.

4) I pointed out all the facets of the industry that would be affected. He had no idea that it would affect companies such as UPS, Fedex and Delta. Don't take it for granted that they know this.

Lastly, when you meet with them, dress as professionally as possible. If you have a suit, wear it. That's what they are used to and they will take you much more seriously. Do not by any means show up in shorts and a t-shirt and expect a staff member of the U.S. Government to take you serious. If you have not set up a meeting, do it today. This was a very pleasant interaction and he seemed to genuinely appreciated getting educated on this bill so they know how to respond appropriately.

[Hypancistrus]

Good to know! Thanks for fighting for us!

[West Coast Jungle]

Great work and thanks for the input

[mechnut450]

glad went wwell for you sadly I would be sol on a meeting since 1 I don't own a monkey suit the closest Igot to gettign dressed up is a fire house shirt and blue jeans ( that don't have a stain of some kind on them)

I am waiting on the newspaper article that the NEws Journal doing/done that comes out tomorrow or friday. the writer went on vacation over xmas and just got back .. called me with more questions.

[Adam_Wysocki]

glad went wwell for you sadly I would be sol on a meeting since 1 I don't own a monkey suit the closest Igot to gettign dressed up is a fire house shirt and blue jeans ( that don't have a stain of some kind on them)

You absolutely can attend a meeting with your Senators staff in jeans and a t-shirt. They don't care what you look like, it's their job to listen to you and send your message to Washington. I've taken many people to meet with their reps that have dressed in their every day clothes and they were well received.

It's critically important that anyone that wants to fight this ban make an in person meeting with their two Senators staff members in local state offices. You don't have to meet with your Senators themselves, you don't have to dress up, you don't have to be a great speaker ... you just have to show up.

At a minimum, just to say that you oppose S373 and hand them the talking points from www.nosnakeban.com.

If anyone needs help making an in person meeting or has any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me at adam@natpet.org.

I can't stress enough how important it is to make these meetings. There is no stronger action that you can take to fight the snake ban.

If you'd like, I'll call your senate offices and make the appointments for you, you just have to show up.

adam@natpet.org ... I'm happy to help with as much as you need.

Thank you.

-adam

[Hypnotic Exotic]

Hey guys, I said IF you have a suit wear it. I never said if you don't have a suit, don't meet with them. Sorry if anybody took that wrong. Meeting with them in a t-shirt and jeans is definitely better than not doing anything at all.

[OzzyBoids]

Great job and a great post... thanks for taking the time.

Oz