In February 2012, Representatives Carolyn Maloney ane Mike Honda introduced HR 597 to create a bipartisan Federal commission to study the impact of government policies on Americans living and working abroad and to make recommendations to Congress to improve drafting and implementation of policies impacting the overseas population.
It has been over thirty years since the government did a comprehensive study of the overseas community, now estimated by the State Department to number 6.3 million. HR 597 will make it possible to examine the impacts of U.S. laws and regulations on voting from overseas, transmission of U.S. citizenship, competitiveness in international markets, access to financial services abroad and more. In today's global economy, it is indispensable that this key population be taken into account in the formulation of U.S. policy.
We need to build support for HR 597: click here for a sample letter you can adapt and send to your Representative, encouraging him/her to co-sponsor the bill (find your Representative's website at www.house.gov). But don't stop there! Share it with family and friends overseas and in the United States: click here for a sample letter they can send. Remember that when overseas Americans got the right to vote in U.S. elections in 1975, it was due in large part to the avalanche of mail their Congresspersons received from all around the world...
Thank you for your help and all best wishes for an exciting fall!
Lucy
