permaculture

[Paul Cereghino <paul.cereghino@comcast.net>]

a general FYI,
The federal budget continuing resolution delivers the 2006 enacted 
budget to the executive agencies without the appropriations text and 
conference notes that would typically allow the legislature to direct 
the agencies how to allocate funds within the agencies.  This year is an 
unparallelled opportunity executive appointees who run the executive 
agencies to control funds which are earmarked for specific programs in 
previous budgets (ATTRA is one of MANY).  There is some intense lobbying 
occuring in congress that the point in time, and if you are interested 
in federal budgets... a good time to make sure your program gets some 
attention.
Paul
lbsaltzman@aol.com wrote:

> Here is some information from the California Certified Organic Farmers on saving ATTRA. 
>   
>
> Act Now to Save ATTRA! Please Call Your Representatives & Senators 
> IMMEDIATELY!!
> Dear CCOF Members:
> Last week, the Senate passed the "Continuing Resolution," which makes 
> permanent funding decisions for the fiscal year already underway (Fiscal Year 2007), 
> which wasn't completed before the last Congress ended. Distressingly, this resolution 
> would IMMEDIATELY eliminate funding for the ATTRA program, which is crucial to 
> sustainable agriculture! The Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas (ATTRA) 
> program is a highly rated national information service that answers practical questions 
> from farmers and others across the US who call its toll-free telephone number, print 
> publications from its website, or attend its workshops.
>
> Congressman Boozman (R-AR) is circulating a sign-on letter to USDA to fund 
> ATTRA's modest $2.5 million. It's crucial that you call today and ask your 
> House member to sign onto that letter. NOW is the time to ask them to sign 
> on, as Congressman Boozman will take this message to USDA early the week of 
> February 26. Senators are also sending individual letters to USDA with the 
> same message.
>
>
> Please call the congressional switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask to be 
> connected to the office of your representative and your two senators (this 
> means 3 very quick calls, and your call has a big impact). Ask to speak to 
> the staffer handling appropriations. If he or she is unavailable, leave a 
> message with your name, phone number and the quick message below.
>
> The message is simple: 
>
> 1. For your Representatives: Please ask Congressman/woman _________ to sign 
> onto Congressman Boozman's letter asking USDA to restore full 2007 funding to 
> the ATTRA sustainable agriculture information service. (Tell the staffer for 
> your Representative that they can contact Maggie Lemmerman at 202-225-4301 in 
> Mr. Boozman's office to sign onto the letter.) ATTRA is a national valuable 
> source of information to farmers across the US about how to farm using 
> sustainable practices, and it shouldn't be cut.
>
> 2. For your Senators: Please ask Senator ___________ to send a letter asking 
> USDA to restore full funding to the ATTRA sustainable agriculture information 
> service. (Tell the staffer for your Senator that John Lewis in Senator 
> Baucus' office (202) 224-2651 can provide information on the wording of the 
> letter that Senator Baucus sent if that's helpful.) ATTRA is a national 
> valuable source of information to farmers across the US about how to farm 
> using sustainable practices, and it shouldn't be cut.
>
> Find your Representatives here...
> Find your Senators here... 
> Background:
> • For twenty years, ATTRA has been one of the most reliable sources of information for farmers and others who want fact-based information on a wide variety of agronomic, livestock, marketing, and entrepreneurial questions with reliable information, evaluated and summarized from its extensive database. 
>
> • ATTRA is an extraordinarily efficient program. Though its funding has 
> remained far too small, at $2.5 million since FY02, it accomplishes great 
> work for farmers and consumers around the nation! ATTRA's services are in 
> great demand, exceeding 37,000 technical requests last year and drawing over 
> 2.6 million unique visitors to its website, from which there were more than 
> 673,000 publication downloads.
>
> It is phone calls like yours that have protected ATTRA and other sustainable 
> agriculture funding in the past.
>
> THANK YOU again for contacting your House representative and senators 
> immediately to keep ATTRA's 2007 funding from being cut!
>
> For more about the ATTRA information service, click here... 
>
>
> E-Newsletters and Other CCOF Announcements We want to communicate with you! CCOF sends periodic email updates on organic news and certification issues. If you opt out of these announcements, we are unable to send you ANY future emails using this system. Please - unsubscribe ONLY if you DON'T want to receive any CCOF announcements, news, action alerts and certification updates. 
>
>
> CCOF 
>
>
>
> ccof@ccof.org 
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