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Help the Families of our Fallen Brothers of Engine 57
Regarding the SNAFU in getting donations to the families of our fallen firefighters:
It's easy to call the President's comment line (202-456-1111)
and request he sign H.R. 6429. From your personal telephone... The
person who answers may not know and will ask what that bill is about.
Just tell them:
It's about removing the IRS cap and allowing money raised for the
families of firefighters killed in Southern California to be given to
the families without penalizing the non-profits. Like was done for
families following 9/11.
If you'd rather email, do that, or do both. comments@whitehouse.gov
From your personal email account...
Copy and paste the email at the end, which is a modified message that
our senators and congress people sent to Pres Bush. Put your name and address
at the end. Put "Please Sign H.R. 6429 immediately" in
the subject line.
Calling or emailing like this has a powerful impact on a president if
lots of people do it.
Do it yourself, then ask family and friends to do it for our families
and for our Wildland
Firefighter Foundation. Pass this message on if you like.
It's easy. Exercise your rights, privileges, and responsibilities as
American citizens.
Merry Christmas everyone! May we all experience some peace and
good cheer.
Mellie
PS. Everyone, just copy and paste and send this with the subject line
that says "Please Sign H.R.6429 immediately"
An email that you can send to the President comments@whitehouse.gov
follows:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mr. President,
Please promptly sign H.R. 6429 into law.
In October, five federal firefighters were killed in the Esperanza arson
fire that raged through Riverside County, California. Following that
tragedy, the local United Way chapter and the Wildland Firefighter
Foundation, and other non-profits, raised over $1 million for the
families of the deceased firefighters. Unfortunately, the Los Angeles
Times reported last Thursday that IRS rules typically prevent 501(c)(3)
organizations from raising money for specified individuals - and that
the non-profits might even risk losing their tax-exempt status if they
released these funds. Faced with the prospect of having to return the
contributions it had raised, the Wildland Firefighter Foundation and
United Way then asked the California and Idaho Congressional delegations
for help.
Upon learning of this problem, the California delegation immediately
introduced corrective legislation (S. 4112 and H.R. 6429), which was
introduced Friday, 12/8/06. These bills were drafted to treat the
Esperanza fire victims in the same way as 9/11 victims for whom
contributions had been individually raised. In an act of prompt
bipartisanship, H.R. 6429 passed both the House and Senate by unanimous
consent before our adjournment sine die. Final passage took place in the
Senate at 4:30 a.m. Saturday morning, 12/9/06.
This bill is now on your desk for consideration. Although Congress acted
with unusual dispatch, the non-profit organizations still cannot release
these funds to the families of the fallen firefighters until this bill
becomes law. With the holidays approaching - the families' first without
their loved ones - we ask to you to sign this bill into law promptly, so
that the outpouring of support from various donors can finally flow to
the families of these heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice.
your name
your street addy
city, state, zip
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