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MRF E-MAIL NEWS
Motorcycle Riders Foundation
236 Massachusetts Ave. NE, Suite 510
P.O. Box 1808
Washington, DC 20013-1808
202-546-0983 (voice)
202-546-0986 (fax)
MRF website
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jeff Hennie, Vice President of Government Relations
Email: Jeff Hennie
April 11, 2008
WASHINGTON UPDATE
Washington DC has seen some more bikers from all over the country the past
few weeks. Accompanied by the Motorcycle Riders Foundation (MRF), ABATEs
of Ohio, Colorado and Illinois have all recently been to DC to visit with
their legislators. All of the groups have been highly effective briefing
Members of the House and Senate on all of the current issues pertaining to
motorcycling such as HIPAA (HR 1076 and S616), Mary Peters, and Right to
Repair (HR 2694).
The legislation to close the HIPAA loophole is still moving along.
Passage of the bills this Congress is unlikely at this point, but it's
still important to gather cosponsors for the bills to better their chances
in the future. Currently the House bill has 111 cosponsors and the Senate
companion bill has just 7. Those numbers are both higher than they have
been all year, but much work remains. Keep asking your federal elected
officials to cosponsor these important bills.
One of the highlights in every congressional meeting is the response
received when US DOT Secretary Mary Peters' proposed change to the 2010
funds is brought up. One hundred percent of the responses from Members of
the House and Senate were in favor leaving the 2010 funds unaltered. The
negative response to Ms. Peters' proposal is a solid indicator that her
agenda for the 2010 funds will not advance any further.
BYE BYE FRANKIE?
Does that sound like the name of a song from the sock hop era? It's not,
but if you live in the South Jersey area, you may already singing
something along those lines. Senator Frank Lautenberg, the nation's
number one helmet law advocate, is facing his first serious contender in
his four terms as a US Senator. New Jersey Democrat US Rep. Robert
Andrews has announced his bid for the 84-year-old sitting Senator's seat
late last week. Andrews' run for higher office has irked many of his
democratic colleagues; bad for the party they say. Andrews isn't backing
down though; he is digging in and offering New Jersey democrats a choice
for the first time in a long time. Andrews is no slouch – the son of a
shipyard worker, he made a splendid career for himself as law professor at
Rutgers and is currently serving as a nine-term member of the US House of
Representatives. He is such an effective Congressman that he ran
unopposed in his last election. He is the self described underdog both
financially and in name recognition however he is a legitimate political
force.
Andrews has sworn to vote against any mandatory helmet legislation and to
continue to be as supportive of motorcycling as he can in the US Senate.
Not only would Lautenberg be out of power, he would be replaced by a
Senator who would support motorcyclists instead of putting up barriers to
riding.
The MRF has been working very closely with leadership of ABATE of the
Garden State (that's New Jersey's MRO to you west coast guys) regarding
Andrews bid for the Senate. Andrews for Senate has a website where you
will be able to support his campaign in a variety of ways. It's not
completely up and running just yet but should be fully functional in a few
days, the campaign tells the MRF. Check out http://robandrews08.com for
more info.
MRF BEAST OF THE EAST CONFERENCE
Andrews' bid for Lautenberg's seat should be a hot topic of discussion at
the upcoming MRF BEAST of the East Conference, April 18-20 in Peabody,
Massachusetts, in addition to all the other sessions and workshops
designed to inform and educate motorcyclists on all federal issues
affecting motorcycling. Visit the MRF's website at www.mrf.org for more
details. Hope to see you there!
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