Pay Equity Advocates,
If you have never participated in our lobbying efforts before, I urge you to do so now! The women of America need your help as never before!
Below is an explanation of the voting that will be taking place in the U. S. Senate on the Paycheck Fairness Act beginning the week of November 15th.
Please note that the legislation itself will not be voted on first. Here's why:
First, a cloture vote will take place on the Senate floor, currently scheduled for the week of the 15th. This is not a vote on the actual legislation--this is a vote to cease debate on the legislation. Cloture will only take place if 60 Senators vote yes to cease debate. If 60 Senators do not vote yes, there will not be cloture, and most importantly, there will not be an actual vote on the bill itself!
If cloture passes, then the vote on the actual Paycheck Fairness Act will take place soon thereafter. This vote only needs a simple majority, or 51 votes, to pass the legislation itself and send it to President Obama's desk for signature. The President has promised he will sign the bill if it passes the Senate!
To this end, in Louisiana we must not only lobby Senator Vitter, who is not a co-sponsor of the bill, but we must also continue to lobby Senator Landrieu as well, even though she is a co-sponsor. You are probably wondering why we need to keep lobbying Landrieu--because we must keep her support and co-sponsorship, and most importantly, because we must ensure that she is present for the cloture vote.
If she is absent for the cloture vote, her vote on cloture is counted as a no vote for cloture. Since we need 60 yes votes for cloture, it is imperative that Landrieu is present for the cloture vote! There may be a lot of absences among the Senators for voting during the lame duck session, but we must make sure that the two votes on the Paycheck Fairness Act are not votes with a lot of absences!
I need only remind you of what happened during our Louisiana state pay equity vote in 2007 on the House floor when seven of our co-sponsors walked out when the bill was called for a vote. Those seven co-sponsors were counted as no votes. The bill lost by only three votes. If those seven co-sponsors would have been there for the vote, and voted yes, the bill would have passed the House by four votes, and then gone to the Senate. Instead, the bill died on the House floor.
Don't let what happened in 2007 to the Louisiana state bill happen to the Paycheck Fairness Act! Please call both Senators Vitter and Landrieu today, and ask them to vote yes two times--YES for cloture and YES for the Paycheck Fairness Act bill itself!
Please call the Senators' District offices in your area, and also call their Washington offices. For those of you living in Louisiana, I have attached a list of the contact info for the Senators' District and Washington offices. For those of you living in other states, contact your Senators today at both their District and Washington offices. Contact info for each state can be found at www.contactingthecongress.org.
We can make this happen, but it can't happen without each and every one of you! So CALL NOW and spread the word to your friends, family, and colleagues to tell their Sentors to VOTE YES for the women of our nation!
Thank you,
Camille Moran
Louisiana Pay Equity Lobbying Director
(318) 357-0748 (home/work)
(318) 471-1740 (cell)
caramor@wnonline.net
OFFICE LOCATIONS FOR U. S. SENATORS FROM LOUISIANA
SENATOR DAVID VITTER:
Washington, DC Office:
516 Hart Senate Office Bldg.
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224-4623 (ask for Legislative Director)
FAX: (202) 228-5061
District Offices:
1) Central Louisiana Office
2230 S. MacArthur Dr., Suite 4
Alexandria, LA 71301
Phone: (318) 448-0169 (ask for Quint Carrieux)
FAX: (318) 448-0189
2) Northeast Louisiana Office
1217 N. 19th St.
Monroe, LA 71201
Phone: (318) 325-8120
FAX: (318) 325-9165
3) Northwest Louisiana Office
920 Pierremont Road, Suite 113
Shreveport, LA 71106
Phone: (318) 861-0437
FAX: (318) 861-4865
4) Southeast Louisiana Office
2800 Veterans Blvd., Suite 201
Metairie, LA 70002
Phone: (504) 589-2753
FAX: (504) 589-2607
5) Southwest Louisiana Office
3221 Ryan St., Suite E
Lake Charles, LA 70601
Phone: (337) 436-0453
FAX: (337) 436-3163
6) Acadiana Office
800 Lafayette St.
Suite 1200
Lafayette, LA 70501
Phone: (337) 262-6898
FAX: (337) 262-6373
7) Baton Rouge Office
858 Convention St.
Baton Rouge, LA 70802
Phone: (225) 383-0331
FAX: (225) 383-0952
SENATOR MARY LANDRIEU:
Washington, DC Office
328 Hart Senate Office Bldg.
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224-5824 (ask for Legislative Director)
FAX: (202) 224-9735
District Offices:
1) Shreveport Office
U. S. Courthouse
300 Fanin St.
Room 2240
Shreveport, LA 71101
Phone: (318) 676-3085
FAX: (318) 676-3100
2) Lake Charles Office
Capital One Tower
One Lakeshore Dr., Suite 1260
Lake Charles, LA 70629
Phone: (337) 436-6650
FAX: (337) 439-3762
3) New Orleans Office
Hale Boggs Federal Bldg.
500 Poydras St.
Room 1005
New Orleans, LA 70130
Phone: (504) 589-2427 (ask for Laverne Saulny)
FAX: (504) 589-4023
4) Baton Rouge Office
Room 326
Federal Bldg.
707 Florida St.
Baton Rouge, LA 70821
Phone: (225) 389-0395 (ask for T. Bradley Keith)
FAX: (225) 389-0660
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