FAWCO is happy to announce that Reps. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Mike Honda (D-CA), have introduced H.R.597, legislation to create a Federal commission to study the impact of government policies upon the millions of Americans living overseas.

“Americans living and working abroad are our country’s informal ambassadors and help strengthen the U.S. economy and promote American influence. Yet they too often suffer from an ‘out-of-sight, out-of-mind’ mentality within government, Maloney said. “Overseas Americans pay their taxes and vote like the rest of us. Their concerns about how their government interacts with them deserve to be heard-- and paid attention to-- here in Washington, and that’s what this bill would do.

“With its large proportion of members who are long-term residents overseas, FAWCO has endeavored for years, if not decades, to ensure that Washington legislators understand the unfortunate situation of patriotic, law-abiding citizens living and working abroad who suffer under the impact of laws actually designed to identify and punish tax evasion within the United States or which unintentionally disenfranchise overseas voters.  We have high hopes for the potential of this Commission, said Lucy Stensland Laederich, U.S. Liaison, Federation of American Women's Clubs Overseas (FAWCO).

FAWCO US Liaison Lucy Stensland Laederich and US Tax & Banking Chair Margaret Spethman are in Washington with their colleagues from AARO and ACA for the annual Overseas Americans Week.  In addition to talking to their own legislators about the problems faced by their overseas constituents, OAW delegates have some 75 meetings during the week with staffers on key committees dealing with tax and banking issues and with voting from overseas.  They will also meet with State Department representatives and senior staff of the National Taxpayer Advocate.

According to the post-election survey conducted by FAWCO partner Overseas Vote Foundation (OVF), the overseas voting process was clearly improved in the first full federal election since passage of the Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment (MOVE) Act of 2009.

An article by Brian Knowlton in the New York Times shows that while a little over 20% of UOCAVA voters were still unable to vote due to ballots that were late or not received, increased use of technology by both voters and elections officials did make the difference for many voters.  More than half, for example, received their blank ballot electronically.

Click here to see the full NYT article by Brian Knowlton.

FAWCO thanks the many people who used the FAWCO website to participate in the OVF post-election survey!