E-Newsletter
E-Newsletter
June 23, 2005
Dear Friends:
Minnesota has the right to be proud of the high quality public broadcasting our state has known for years. Minnesota Public Radio and Twin Cities Public Television are treasures that provide balanced news, insightful information and exceptional entertainment over the public airwaves, and I am very proud they call St. Paul home. MPR and TPT deserve our support and the support of the federal government. Unfortunately, Congress is now considering cutting federal funding for public broadcasting by half even though Washington's contribution is currently less than $1.50 per American per year. Click to here to learn more about how you can help protect public broadcasting.
This week the nation celebrates the 33rd anniversary of Title IX, the law that has helped to even the playing field for two generations of women in athletics. Unfortunately, the Bush administration has weakened this vital protection of equal access through an administrative rule change. The change by the Department of Education would create a major loophole in testing for compliance of Title IX by allowing schools to gauge female students' interest in athletics by doing nothing more than conducting an e-mail survey. Women and girls deserve equal opportunity and access in athletics. Click here to read a letter I signed with nearly 150 of my Democratic colleagues calling on President Bush to withdraw this damaging rule.
As the genocide in the Darfur area in Sudan continues with as many as 10,000 people dying every month, the media is reporting that earlier this year, the U.S. government flew the head of Sudan's intelligence agency to Washington D.C. on a C.I.A. jet for secret meetings with top U.S. officials. It is outrageous that a senior Sudanese official complicit in genocide could be jetted to Washington with our tax dollars to be commended for his government's 'counter-terrorism' efforts. It is truly a betrayal of the values we share as Americans. A likely perpetrator of genocide should never be the dinner guest of the U.S. government. Please click here to read my full statement this week on the recent controversy over the C.I.A. embrace of a regime perpetrating genocide.
To find out how you can help the crisis in Darfur, please visit www.mccollum.house.gov/help-darfur.
Sincerely,
Congresswoman Betty McCollum
Serving Minnesota's Fourth District
http://www.mccollum.house.gov/vertical/Sites/%7B6CD95013-7C42-4AD8-A464-EB8D8679E9C9%7D/uploads/%7BFD723CD3-C921-4686-A9DA-4FC209882435%7D.PDF