HR669 is toast!!!!! Just got the email:)

[waltah!]

Just got the email from USARK! HR669 as it stands is dead. If Bordallo wants it to go forward it has to be drafted from scratch and go to sub- committee again. THE REPTILE NATION IS NOT TO BE TAKEN LIGHTLY!!
Here's the email for those that have not gotten it.
WE DID IT FOLKS!!!! Victory over HR669! You can thank yourselves and the Reptile Nation, for a hard fought Victory! Our nearly 50,000 grassroots letters and 1,000s of phone calls to the offices of the subcommittee members clearly prevailed at today's Insular Affairs Subcommittee hearing on HR 669. HR 669 in it's current form is finished. For anything to go forward it MUST be re-written from the ground up....and USARK will have a seat at the table along with other stake holders.

Delegate Faleomavega from Samoa said, "The letter and phone campaign hit the subcommittee like a BUZZ SAW". Harry Burroughs, of the subcommittee staff said, "I haven't seen a letter writing campaign like this in 30 years! You should be proud of yourselves." Take heart in the fact that the Reptile Nation stopped HR669 in it's tracks!!

We also need to thank Congressman Henry Brown, SC for helping us to focus our fight on the Subcommittee as opposed to the full House of Representatives. He is the one who instructed us to write real letters to be truly effective. He said emails are fine if that is all you can manage, but they can be filtered and deleted. There is no denying the weight of thousands of paper letters from American citizens. The Reptile Nation was responsible for 49,229 letters delivered to the Subcommittee in less than two weeks. Congressman Brown's staff made sure they all got in the door. 38,000 of those letters will be entered into the permanent record. Thank you my friends!

Credit should also be given to Bill Martin, a witness who testified at the hearing. He is the President of Blue Ridge Aquatics, a large multi-state Tilapia farming operation. They farm Tilapia as a food fish. He had some serious problems with the bill and the ear of much of the committee. His plain talk of how this bill would destroy hundreds of families hit home. What they do and the impact this bill would have on them parallels the plight of the Reptile Nation.

Senior Democrat staff from the House Committee on Natural Resources advised Subcommittee Chair Madeleine Bordallo that if she wants something to go forward she will have to go back to square one and draft a new bill. Then have another subcommittee hearing. When and if she does, USARK will be there to represent the interests of the Reptile Nation!! They probably will try, and that will be our challenge for another day. But Today VICTORY is SWEET!...... Celebrate today and rest, because tomorrow we must get ready to fight again.

Thank you Reptile Nation! Thank you Tom Wolfe. Thank you everyone who did their part.

Stay tuned... This fight has only begun!

USARK

A note from Tom Wolfe:

"The good news is, USARK engineered a significant victory which caught the attention of the entire membership of the Subcommittee and their staffs.

The bad news is this is just the first step in the process. Members of the Reptile Nation should be jubilant with this victory. However, our success should be measured, because the proponents of HR 669 will be back soon with another version of the same legislation. They will not rest, so we must not rest either.

Take satisfaction in a job well done and a victory well deserved, but know we all must rise up again to fight on because the battle has just begun!"

[Patrick Long]

So cool!!!

[wilomn]

Isn't there supposed to be scantily clad but perfectly respectable beer wenches distributing natures ambrosia to the celebrating masses right now.

Why am I always in the right place at the wrong time?

[joepythons]

See other exact thread on this.Ok where did it go lol

[GregBennett]

Got the email also from USARK.

[littleindiangirl]

See other exact thread on this.Ok where did it go lol

I asked JLC to take it down, since the wording of the email is a little open, HR 669 may not be toast.

HR 669 the BILL may not be dead, however, it sounds like USARK is rejoicing that it is being reviewed and rewritten, so as it STANDS, it won't pass.

I'm a little confused about the whole thing too, so maybe I should stop posting.

[stratus_020202]

Can anyone find any other proof of defeat besides USARK? I'm not believing it until they do. When the committee adjourned, Chair Madeleine Bordallo said they would have 10 days of discussion. PIJAC doesn't say anything. I'm still not believing a total defeat. Nothing against USARK, but I need proof.

[joepythons]

I asked JLC to take it down, since the wording of the email is a little open, HR 669 may not be toast.

HR 669 the BILL may not be dead, however, it sounds like USARK is rejoicing that it is being reviewed and rewritten, so as it STANDS, it won't pass.

I'm a little confused about the whole thing too, so maybe I should stop posting.

Ok so i am not crazy then ,

[Denial]

Just watch they will go and rewrite it but it will make less sense then 669 lol

[littleindiangirl]

Ok so i am not crazy then ,

No, no you are! But yes the thread was pulled by my request.