Bob Martina, NRLN Vice President – Grassroots worked with Cindy Hadsell and Ray Sternot of the Grassroots Committee composed of NRLN Region Vice Presidents to come up with enhancements to the NRLN Report Card, then interfaced with The Soft Edge, the provider of our Legislative Action Network webpages, to implement the changes.
I want to thank Bob and the Grassroots Committee members for their efforts. Click here to see the names of Region Vice Presidents who compose the Grassroots Committee. If you have a problem with this link, go to www.nrln.org , click on the Grassroots black tab and select Directory of Grassroots Leaders from the dropdown menu.
The Report Card, created by the NRLN a few years ago, shows the bills the NRLN is supporting and opposing in the 117th Congress. It shows whether the Senators and the Representatives for a state are a cosponsor of the bill. Bills for which the NRLN has issued an Action Alert are identified with AA. Few, if any, other retiree organizations provide similar information.
The improvements to the Report Card include using colors to designate whether a legislator is a cosponsor of bills the NRLN supports or opposes. Also, a dash was added to show if a Senator’s or Representative’s position is unknown on the bill. These changes make it easier for a reviewer of the Report Card to quickly understand if the lawmakers have taken a position as a cosponsor.
The Report Card is intended to provide constituents of Senators and Representatives a snapshot look at where their members of Congress stand on retirement issues supported or opposed by the NRLN. Leaders of the NRLN, retiree associations, chapters, regions, states and Congressional districts regularly use the Report Card to inform Capitol Hill staffers where their Senator or Representative stands on bills supported or opposed by the NRLN. We also use the Report Card in meetings when we have fly-ins to Washington, D.C.
We are four months into the 117th Congress. There are four Senate bills on the Report Card that we support and one that we oppose. In the House, there are five bills identified that we support and three that we oppose. Each month bills will be added to the Report Card after the Legislative Affairs Committee (LAC) reviews retirement-related bills and submits them to the Legislative Action Planning Committee (LAPC) to decide the position the NRLN will take on them.
The NRLN Review, which is emailed to NRLN members around the first of each month, includes the actions taken on bills by the LAC and LAPC during the previous month. Those bills are posted on the Legislative Action Network “Bills” webpage at: http://www.nrln.org/soledad/SE.html/congresslegs.html#/bills. This webpage feeds the bills to the Report Card.
I urge you to check the Report Card on your state’s Congressional delegation periodically to learn where your Senators and Representative stand on bills the NRLN supports or opposes.
Click here to access the NRLN Report Card. Then click on your state on the USA map. When the webpage with your state’s members of Congress appears, click on EXCEL DOWNLOAD. When the download is complete, click on Enable Editing for the bills’ titles to appear. If you want more information on the bills, click on a bill’s title and you will access more information. If you have a problem with this link, go to www.nrln.org and click on the Legislative Action Network tab.
Bill Kadereit, President
National Retiree Legislative Network