URGENT ACTION REQUEST: Don Young – Bill Keating letter to support fisheries
Dear Saving Seafood Members, Contributors, Colleagues and Friends:
Congressman Bill Keating (D-Massachusetts ), whose district includes Cape Cod and New Bedford, Massachusetts, the nation’s highest-grossing fishing port, has drafted a bipartisan letter to Congressional leadership, together with Congressman Don Young (R-Alaska), Dean of the House of Representatives and an original cosponsor of what is today known as the Magnuson-Stevens Act, to request appropriate consideration of the needs of our nation’s domestic seafood harvesters and processors in the next round of federal aid related to the COVID-19 crisis.
The text of the letter is reproduced below
In their “Dear Colleague” letter to all Members of the House, in which Mr. Keating and Mr. Young asked other Representatives to join them in signing this letter, they stated:
America’s fisheries industry is facing irreparable and permanent damage due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Seventy percent of domestically harvested seafood is consumed by the restaurant and hospitality industries. The widespread closure of restaurants due to the COVID-19 pandemic has severely impacted the market for products of America’s fishermen. That is why Congressman Keating and Congressman Young invite you to join them in requesting substantial direct aid for America’s fishing families in any future stimulus package. Additionally, this letter urges leadership to prioritize investments in the National Marine Fisheries Service in any forthcoming infrastructure package as both actions are essential to ensure the long-term sustainability of the iconic American fisheries industry.
Please, TODAY, email your Congressperson in the United States House of Representatives and ask them to sign on to this letter. To make this as easy as possible I’m including text below which you can cut and paste.
Also, because we have determined that no one, not even senior congressional leadership staff, have a comprehensive list of Congressional staff who cover fisheries, we would ask that if you have a specific staff member you work with in your Congressperson’s office, would you please let us know to whom you sent this request. That will help us develop a comprehensive list of staff members with whom our members and friends should be in contact. You can do that by using the form at this link: https://savingseafood.
If you do not know a particular staff member in your Congressperson’s office, or if you do not know which Member represents you or the location of your facility, you can look that up using this link: https://www.house.gov/
Thanks for your help.
Bob
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Suggested text for email to Congressional Offices:
Dear Congressman/Congresswoman Xxxxx:
Congressman Bill Keating (D-Massachusetts ), and Congressman Don Young (R-Alaska) have drafted a letter to Speaker Pelosi and Leader McCarthy requesting appropriate consideration of the needs of our nation’s domestic seafood harvesters and processors in the next round of federal aid related to the COVID-19 crisis.
America’s fisheries industry is facing irreparable and permanent damage due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Seventy percent of domestically-harvested seafood is purchased by the restaurant and hospitality industries. The widespread closure of restaurants due to the COVID-19 pandemic has severely impacted the market for products of America’s fishermen. For that reason, I support the effort being undertaken by Congressman Keating and Congressman Young to request substantial direct aid for America’s fishing families in any future stimulus package.
Additionally, their letter urges leadership to prioritize investments in the National Marine Fisheries Service in any forthcoming infrastructure package as both actions are essential to ensure the long-term sustainability of the iconic American fisheries industry.
Accordingly, I ask you to sign onto this letter, which you can do by having your staff contact Andrew Nelson in Congressman Keating’s Office at: Andrew.nelson@mail.house.
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