I received a message earlier today that the e-mail address I sent to Jim Leach didn't work. I was afraid that would happen. Try this one. http://www.house.gov/leach/email.htm<http://www.house.gov/leach/email.htm> ----- Original Message ----- Sent: Monday, March 27, 2006 11:10 AM Subject: RE: Arctic drilling in House budget FYI The email address for Jim Leach listed below didn't work... -----Original Message----- From: Iowa Discussion, Alerts and Announcements [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Neila Seaman Sent: Monday, March 27, 2006 10:10 AM To: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> Subject: ACT: Arctic drilling in House budget Arctic Update TIMING AND NEXT STEPS: As you all know, last week by a razor thin margin, the Senate passed a Budget Resolution which includes a reconciliation instruction to the Senate Energy Committee to authorize oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The Senate Energy Committee must now craft legislation to open the Arctic Refuge to oil and gas leasing in hopes of $3 billion of revenue to the federal treasury. That reconciliation language will then be folded into the overall Budget Reconciliation bill which must be passed by the entire Senate. However, the Senate will then be forced to conference its version of the Budget Resolution with the House version. The conference report is subject to a straight up or down vote in both the House and Senate. The House Budget Committee is scheduled to mark-up their Budget Resolution on March 29. Last year, a similar attempt to advance Arctic drilling through the budget process failed in the House of Representatives where objections from moderate Republicans forced leadership to strip Arctic drilling language from a larger budget package. Thanks to the grassroots pressure and the renewed opposition from House moderate Republicans, House Budget Committee Chairman Nussle has recently been quoted as saying that his budget will NOT include Arctic drilling language. This does not mean the battle in the House is won. We must keep up the pressure. Even if Arctic drilling is not included in the House budget at this time, this is very likely a strategy to get a budget through the House and to conference where we fully expect that they will try insert Arctic into the final Conference Report. Now is the time to turn up the heat on the House. Please contact Rep. Jim Leach and let him know you do not want Arctic drilling language included in the House budget. Rep. Leach can be contacted at 202-225-6576 by phone, 202 226-1278 by fax or by e-mail at [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>. Neila Seaman, MPA Director Sierra Club, Iowa Chapter 3839 Merle Hay Road, Suite 280 Des Moines, IA 50310 [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> 515-277-8868 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To get off the IOWA-TOPICS list, send any message to: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To get off the IOWA-TOPICS list, send any message to: [log in to unmask]