As we look forward to the new 2013 Congressional session we will be saying good bye to many of our valued members of the Congressional COPD Caucus. After the 2012 election the COPD Caucus will be losing 13 members for the 2013 Congressional session, including 12 Representatives and 1 Senator.
However, of these changes can help us progress our cause by granting access to key policy makers in more states. For instance, former Caucus member Representative Mike Pence will be the Governor of Indiana and Representative Bob Filner of California will now be serving as the mayor of San Diego. Although these valued Caucus members will no longer be serving us on the national stage, we now key state policymakers who understand the burden of COPD and can help us improve COPD public policy in their states and cities.
Two of our members, Representatives Tammy Baldwin (WI) and Mazie Hirono (HI) will be entering the 113th Congress as Senators. At the beginning of 2013 we will be using our patient advocates to ask them to rejoin the Caucus from their new posts in the Senate.
We want to start the year by energizing our COPD advocates, Congressional COPD Caucus, and our elected officials. In order to do this, we want to build the strongest Caucus we can by asking more of our elected officials to join. Please email your Congressmen and women and ask them to stand up for the COPD community and join the Congressional COPD Caucus today!
The US COPD Coalition would like to thank the follow members of the Congressional COPD Caucus for their dedication and service:
Mike Ross-Arkansas’ 4th district
Bob Filner-California’s 51st district
Cliff Sterns-Florida’s 6th district
Mike Pence-Indiana’s 6th district
Leonard Boswell-Iowa’s 3rd district
Thaddeus McCotter-Michigan’s 11th district
Charlie Bass-New Hampshire’s 2nd district
Frank Guinta-New Hampshire’s 1st district
Edolphus Towns-New York’s 10th district
Dennis Kuchinich-Ohio’s 10th district
Todd Platts-Pennsylvania’s 19th district
Dick Lugar-Indiana Senator