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ACTION ALERT!! Help Increase Movie Captioning
July 2004

From Jim House of TDI
Email Jim House for More Info

Senator Dayton Movie Captioning Amendment

TDI Editor's Note:

If you want to watch your favorite movie at your neighborhood theater, here is your opportunity to tell your US Senator how much it means to you. As a member of the Coalition for Movie Captioning (CMC), TDI believes that all movies should be captioned everywhere. Please follow the instructions below and call, fax or email a short note to your Senator today!

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ACTION ALERT! The Coalition for Movie Captioning (CMC) needs your quick action.

We have a great opportunity to rapidly increase captioned movies in theaters across the U.S.

A movie captioning amendment proposed by Senator Mark Dayton of Minnesota was included in the Senate JOBS Act, which passed the Senate in May 2004. Senator Dayton's amendment would give a tax credit of 50% to both movie studios and theaters for making captioned movies available, retroactive to January 2004. Unfortunately the amendment was not included when the House of Representatives passed its version of the bill last week.

The fate of the captioning amendment will be in the hands of a conference committee, whose members are to be selected by the Senate Finance Committee and House Ways and Means Committee. We need your help contacting four members of Congress (listed below) who will be on the conference committee. Please ask them to support the movie captioning amendment. Share your personal stories about going to the movies to show them how important captioned movies are to you.

A quick phone call can make a big difference. The calls are tallied by staff and show how many people are concerned about an issue. Call either the Washington office or one of their home offices.

Note that mail sent to Congress is now being irradiated and inspected, which can slow down the delivery. Action on the trade bill may happen very quickly, so please call, fax, or e-mail.

Sample Statement

Here's a sample statement you can use when contacting any of the offices:

"I am contacting you to support the movie captioning credit amendment in the Senate JOBS bill. Captioning for movies is important to me because ..."

Who to Contact

Rep. William Thomas of California
Chair of the House Ways and Means Committee (Republican)
2208 Rayburn House Office Building,
Washington, DC 20515
Email Bill Thomas
CALL: D.C. Office - 202-225-2915 V
Bakersfield - 661-327-3611 V
Atascadero - 805-549-0390 (S. County)
805-461-1034 (N.County)
FAX: D.C. Office - 202-225-8798
Atascadero - 805-461-1323

Rep. Charles Rangel of New York
Ranking member of the House (Democrat)
2354 Rayburn House Office Building,
Washington, DC 20515
CALL: D.C. Office - 202-225-4365 V
New York - 212-663-3900 V
FAX: D.C. Office - 202-225-0816

Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa
Chair, Senate Finance Committee (Republican)
(Accepted the captioning amendment in the managers' package in the Senate; thank him and ask for his continued support during the conference agreement process)
135 Hart Senate Building,
Washington, DC 20510
Email Charles Grassley
CALL: D.C. Office: 202-224-3744 V
Cedar Rapids: 319-363-6832 V
Council Bluffs: 712-322-7103 V
Davenport: 563-322-4331 V
Des Moines: 515-288-1145 V
Sioux City: 712-233-1860 V
Waterloo: 319-232-6657 V

Senator Max Baucus of Montana
Ranking Member of Senate Finance Committee (Democrat)
(Accepted the captioning amendment in the managers' package in the Senate; thank him and ask for his continued support during the conference agreement process)
511 Hart Senate Office Building,
Washington, DC 20510
Email Max Baucus
CALL: 800-332-6106 from Montana
D.C. Office: 202-224-2651 V
Billings: 406-657-6790 V
Bozeman: 406-586-6104 V
Butte: 406-782-8700 V
Great Falls: 406-761-1574 V;
Helena: 406-449-5480 V
Kalispell: 405-756-1150 V
Missoula: 406-329-3123 V
TTY: D.C. Office - 202-224-1998
Great Falls - 406-452-1117
FAX: D.C. Office - 202-224-4700

About CMC: The Coalition for Movie Captioning (CMC), established in 1999, is a consortium of major national organizations of deaf or hard of hearing people addressing the theater access needs of 28 million deaf, hard of hearing, late- deafened and deaf-blind consumers. CMC's goal is for all first-run movies to be accessible to people with hearing loss. The charter (founding) members of CMC are the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, the American Society for Deaf Children, the Association of Late-Deafened Adults, the Cochlear Implant Association, Inc., the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Consumer Advocacy Network, Deaf Seniors of America, the League for the Hard of Hearing, the National Association of the Deaf, Self Help for Hard of Hearing People, Inc., and TDI.

For more information about CMC, see TDI Website.

Thank you...

Sincerely,

Jim House, Director
Member Services & Public Relations
TDI
8630 Fenton St. #604
Silver Spring, MD 20910
Email Jim House
TDI Website
TTY: 301-589-3006
FAX: 301-589-3797
Promoting Equal Access to Telecommunications and Media for People who are Deaf, Hard of Hearing, Late-Deafened or Deaf-Blind