This is the latest as of 8:30 AM Pacific Time:
House and Senate conferees are meeting this week to iron out differences
between the House and Senate intelligence reform bills. Provisions in both bills
would increase security around birth certificates.
Problem: The House bill (H.R. 10) contains a provision requiring state
governments to meet minimum standards for the issuance and administration of birth
certificates. Among other mandates, the legislation requires the State to adopt
a practice that would:
"Restrict public access to birth certificates and information gathered in the
issuance process to ensure that access is restricted to entities with which
the State has a binding privacy protection agreement."
While the Senate bill (S. 2845) includes provisions increasing the security
of birth certificates, it does not restrict public access to certificates and
other information.
We need your help on this issue over the next two days, as the conference may
wrap up at the end of the week. The request for assistance is immediate!
1. Please call your Representative on the conference committee to encourage
them to accept the Senate language in the intelligence bill on increased
security for birth certificates since the Senate language would not restrict access
to records that are currently open to the public.
2. Please call your Senators on the conference committee and ask that they
hold firm on the Senate birth certificate language.
Below is a list of the House and Senate conferees and the sections of the
intelligence bills in play. (Sorry that the numbers below do not line up, but I
hope you are able to dig out the numbers that are needed.)
Intelligence Reform Conferees
Senate Republicans PHONE FAX
Senate Governmental Affairs Chairwoman Collins (202) 224-2523 202-224-2693
Sen. George Voinovich of Ohio (202) 224-3353 202-228-1382
Sen. Norm Coleman of Minnesota (202) 224-5641 202-224-1152
Sen. John Sununu of New Hampshire (202) 224-2841 202-228-4131
Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas (202) 224-4774 202-224-3514
Sen. Mike DeWine of Ohio (202) 224-2315 202-224-6519
Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi (202) 224-6253 202-224-2262
Senate Democrats
Governmental Affairs ranking member Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut (202)
224-4041 202-224-9750
Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan (202) 224-6221 202-224-1388
Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois (202) 224-2152 202-228-0400
Sen. John Rockefeller of West Virginia (202) 224-6472 202-224-7665
Sen. Bob Graham of Florida (202) 224-3041 202-224-2237
Sen. Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey (202) 224-3224 202-228-4054
House Republicans
Intelligence Chairman Hoekstra (202) 225-4401 202-226-0779
Armed Services Chairman Hunter (202) 225-5672 202-225-0235
International Relations Chairman Hyde (202) 225-4561 202-225-1166
Judiciary Chairman Sensenbrenner (202) 225-5101 202-225-3190
Rules Chairman Dreier (202) 225-2305 202-225-7018
House Democrats
Democratic Caucus Chairman Robert Menendez of New Jersey (202) 225-7919
202-226-0792
Intelligence ranking member Jane Harman of California (202) 225-8220
202-226-7290
Armed Services ranking member Ike Skelton of Missouri (202) 225-2876
202-225-2695