VISA WAIVER PROGRAM TO BE DISCUSSED THIS WEEK.
YOUR ACTION URGENTLY NEEDED!

The Washington Office of the Polish American Congress just learned that members of the Conference Committee that will consider the legislation “Improving America's Security by Implementing Unfinished Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007”, were selected.

The Senate version of the legislation includes a provision allowing for inclusion of Poland in the Visa Program. It is important that the House version of the legislation also includes this provision.

One of the most critical issues that is going to be debated is the inclusion of Poland, and several other Central and Eastern European countries (members of NATO and EU) into the Visa Waiver Program.

Special attention is going to be given to the amendment proposed by Senator Feinstein (D-CA) that establishes a 10% level of refusal rates of visas to the USA in all of the candidate countries, as one of the basic criteria for inclusion in the Program.

If the 10% refusal rate level is kept in the legislation, unfortunately, POLAND WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO JOIN THE PROGRAM as the estimated refusal rate in Poland currently is 20%.

It is crucial that the members and friends of the Polish American Community make their voice heard NOW and push for the elimination of the 10% refusal level.

If you live in any of the states listed below, please contact the mentioned members of the U.S. Congress and: 1. Express your support for inclusion of the Visa Waiver provision in the legislation 2. Strongly urge the Senator/Representative to REMOVE SEN.FEINSTEIN’S AMENDMENT and keep the original language of the provision as proposed by Senator Voinovich (U.S. Senate) or by Representatives Emmanuel and Shimkus in legislation H.R. 1543.

The Conference Committee is scheduled to start its first session as soon as July 19, 2007, and it is anticipated that this will move quickly. Time is of the essence!

Please ACT NOW, and call your Senator and/or Representative (if listed below).

Also, make sure to forward this appeal to others.

All Officers of the Polish American Congress in states of California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas and Wisconsin please pass this information on to ALL members of your Division or organization.

Following are the selected members of the U.S. Congress that will participate in the Conference (by state). Please note, it is particularly important to have the voice of Polonia, its members, friends and supporters, heard by the legislators whose names are marked with an asterisk *. Click here for information on how to reach members of the U.S. Congress

U.S. Senate

Alabama	*Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-AL)
Alaska	Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK)
Arkansas	Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR)
Connecticut	*Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-CT) *Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-CT)
Delaware	*Sen. Thomas R. Carper (D-DE) *Sen. Joseph R. Biden (D-DE)
Hawaii	Sen. Daniel K. Akaka (D-HI) Sen. Daniel K. Inouye (D-HI)
Indiana	Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN)
Maine	Sen. Susan M. Collins (R-ME)
Michigan	Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI)
Minnesota	*Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN)
Ohio	Sen. George V. Voinovich (R-OH)
Oklahoma	*Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK)

House of Representatives

Alabama	Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL) Rep. Bud Cramer (D-AL) (Issues on Intelligence)
California	Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-CA) * Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA) Rep. Dan Lungren (R-CA) Rep. Tom Lantos (D-CA) (Issues on Foreign Affairs) Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) (Judiciary matters) Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) (Issues on Oversight and Government Reform) Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) (Issues on Oversight and Government Reform)
Connecticut	Rep. John Larson (D-CT) (Issues on Transportation and Infrastructure)
Colorado	Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-CO)
Florida	Rep. Ginny Browne-Waite (R-FL) Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) (Issues on Foreign Affairs) Rep. John Mica (R-FL) (Issues on Transportation and Infrastructure)
Georgia	Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA) (Issues on Science and Technology)
Indiana	Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN)
Massachusetts	Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA)
Michigan	Rep. John Dingell (D-MI) *Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) (Judiciary matters) Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-MI) (Issues on Intelligence)
Minnesota	Rep. James Oberstar (D-MN) (Issues on Transportation and Infrastructure)
Mississippi	*Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS)
Missouri	Rep. Ike Skelton (D-MO) (Armed Services matters) Rep. Lacy Clay (D-MO) (Issues on Oversight and Government Reform)
New Jersey	Rep. Jim Saxton (R-NJ) (Armed Services matters)
New York	Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY) Rep. Peter King (R-NY) Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-NY) (Issues on Foreign Affairs)
North Carolina	Rep. Bob Etheridge (D-NC)
Oregon	Rep. David Wu (D-OR) (Issues on Science and Technology) Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR) (Issues on Transportation and Infrastructure)
Pennsylvania	Rep. Charlie Dent (R-PA)
Rhode Island	Rep. Jim Langevin (D-RI)
South Carolina	Rep. John Spratt (D-SC) (Armed Services matters)
Texas	Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX) Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) Rep. Al Green (D-TX) Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX) Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-TX) (Issues on Intelligence) Rep. Bart Gordon (D-TX) (Issues on Science and Technology)
Virgin Islands	Rep. Donna Christensen (D-VI)
Virginia	Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA)
Washington	Rep. Norm Dicks (D-WA)
Wisconsin	*Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) (Judiciary matters)