Enlisting Aid from Members of Congress

I. Political Action

Goal: To enlist the aid of supportive members of Congress from our own states on the issues surrounding the anthrax vaccination program. This should, we hope, be slightly easier than it would have been before the 9/11 attacks, and before the anthrax attacks. However, it remains true that while more people are aware of and afraid of anthrax itself, members of Congress - the delegation in your own state, and members on key military committees - need to become extremely educated about the travesty of the anthrax vaccine.

Things You Can Do: Suggestions for Taking Action

  • Attend whatever hearings you can in Washington as the House Government Reform Committee and the Senate continue to investigate the anthrax vaccine program and further attempts to protect against biological terrorist agents.

  • If you cannot attend - or if you need a schedule of upcoming hearings - contact Chairman Burton's office, c/o Beth Clay at:
    Beth.Clay@mail.house.gov If you have testimony you can provide for a hearing, Ms. Clay will be able to give you directions on how to provide it.

  • It is important to contact your own Congressional delegation as outlined below; but of equal urgency is the need to directly address those members of Congress who are either holding up legislation, or are not sponsoring legislation. Remember that more than 80% of Americans oppose the anthrax vaccine - you are not alone. Please direct some of your first efforts to the following people:

    Representative Floyd D. Spence, Chairman
    House Armed Services Committee,
    2405 Rayburn House Office Building
    Washington, D. C. 20515-2455

    Senator John W. Warner, Chairman
    Senate Armed Service Committee
    225 Senate Russell Office Building
    Washington, D. C. 20510-4601

    Representative Stephen E. Buyer
    227 Canon House Office Building
    Washington, D. C. 20515-1405


  • Write each member of your state's Congressional delegation expressing your concerns about the anthrax vaccination program, and providing each with a media packet or background sheet. This brief background sheet is a good start: Information Paper on the Anthrax Vaccine Immunization Program

  • Call your Congressional delegation's local offices, and speak with staff members about your concerns, and deliver or mail a similar information packet.

  • Invite your Senator or Representative to visit you, or a group of you meeting together, to talk with veterans or active service members, or to talk with those who have resigned from active duty in the military in protest over the vaccine to learn more about the issues on a personal, face-to-face basis. Have factual, substantiated testimony available from those personnel who have been adversely affected by the vaccine.

    Believe it or not, many Senators and Representatives are grateful for the chance to meet personally with their constituents on specific issues and learn more.

  • Follow up. Keep your Congressional delegation informed about the issues even if they are supportive of these efforts; it is important to keep them "in the loop" so that silence does not become misinterpreted as complacency or a signal that all is well.

    Keep them informed about new research concerning the vaccine, or concerning its effects on the troops; send relevant news clippings as they appear. This is a critical step, and one that people lobbying Congress, whether formally or informally, neglect only at their peril. Stay visible, stay in touch, stay courteous. Be patient, and never go away.

  • Write each member of your Congressional delegation again.  Ask that the member of Congress officially query the Pentagon to obtain the proper answers for you.

    IMPORTANT: Please click here to see Questions and Information to Support Your Writing Efforts, or go to "Support Page."

  • Ask each member of your Congressional delegation to talk to another member of Congress about these issues, and to request that at least one other member of Congress make a similar query of the Pentagon. Offer to provide another information packet as needed for this effort.

  • Contact each member of Congress who is listed as sponsoring or supporting any of the bills listed above, and ask the same questions and make the same request. In addition, be sure to ask them what, in their opinions, it will take to get these bills passed into law.

    Click here for:
    H.R. 3460
    H.R. 2548
    H.R. 2543

  • Contact each member of Congress who served on the committees investigating the military's use of experimental medical procedures and of the anthrax vaccine program, and ask the same questions and make the same request.

    Click here for: Is Military Research Hazardous to Veterans' Health? A staff report prepared for the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, United States Senate - Dec. 8, 1994.

    Click here for: The Department of Defense Anthrax Vaccine Immunization Program: Unproven Force Protection.  Fourth Report by the Committee on Government Reform together with Dissenting and Supplemental Views - April 3, 2000

    It matters very much that each of these members of Congress, in each of these categories, hear from as many of us as possible.

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