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Please call your Member of Congress and ask them to cosponsor HR 440 – Congressman Wolf’s legislation on
establishing a Special Envoy for Religious Minorities
BACKGROUND
Due to ongoing as well as recent violence against religious minorities, particularly Christians, in the Middle East, Congressman Frank
Wolf introduced HR 440 intended to establish a Special Envoy position at the US State Department in order to promote religious
freedom for religious minorities in the Middle East and South Asia. HR 440 was introduced on January 25, 2011.
At this point, it is vital that Members of Congress in the US House of Representatives hear from their constituents requesting that
they sign onto the bill. Please call your Member of Congress (it is best if you call the Member in whose District you actually reside)
and request that they sign on as a cosponsor to HR 440.
Currently, there are 28 Members of Congress (listed below) who already are cosponsors. If you reside in the District of one of those
Members, please call and thank them for cosponsoring HR 440.
HOW TO FIND YOUR CONGRESSMAN
If you are not sure who your Representative is, please go to http://www.house.gov and at the top left, there is a place that says
“Find your Representative” with a place to enter your zip code – that will then take you to the correct Member and you can look on
their website for the office phone number.
It’s generally best to call the Washington, D.C. office to request that a Member cosponsor this particular bill.
If you know who your Member of Congress is, but are not sure of their contact information, please go to www.house.gov ‐ at the
top of the site you can look up your Member’s name and then go to his/her website and obtain the DC office phone number.
We need people all across the country to call their Representative’s office.
Below is a script for your use when you call the office.
FOR MEMBER WHO HAS NOT YET COSPONSORED THE BILL
You: Hello, I am (YOUR NAME), and I am calling to see if Congressman/Congresswoman (HIS/HER NAME) is a cosponsor of HR 440
to establish a Special Envoy for religious minorities in the Middle East and South Asia.
Note: please remember to ask if your congressman/congresswoman has cosponsored the bill first, rather than asking them to cosponsor something
they may already have cosponsored.
Office: May say yes/may say no or may say we will check and get back to you.
If the office says YES, they are already a cosponsor, then say,
You: Thank you – the Coptic community in Egypt and those in other countries really appreciate your support!
If the offices says NO or they are not certain, then say
You: I am working with the Coptic community and Coptic Solidarity, and we respectfully request that Congressman/Congresswoman
(NAME OF MEMBER OF CONGRESS) cosponsor HR 440. Religious minorities in the Middle East are enduring terrible persecution at
Establishment in Virginia (Federal Ref.: EIN 27-1220227) - P.O. Box 1450 Centreville, VA 20122
www.copticsolidarity.org
the hands of extremists and often the governments do nothing to stop the persecution. You may have heard about the New Year’s
bombing of a church in Egypt. That is only one incident among many that Egypt’s Christians have suffered. Please cosponsor this
legislation to help protect and support religious minorities in Egypt, Iraq and South Asia.
Office: Will likely say something like thank you for calling. They will not commit over the phone to cosponsor the legislation. That’s
ok – they will be noting your call and what it was about.
The office may ask for your name and contact information. This is likely to keep a record of your call (as offices track the number of
people who call in on a particular issue). The office also might send a letter to you regarding your contacting the office.
It’s good to have more than one person calling an office, but it’s most effective if you are actually the constituent of the Member of
Congress that you call.
It’s great to call and thank Members who already signed on – they will appreciate your support!
Please keep track of who you call and send that information to smesseh@gmail.com so that we can track what Members have been
contacted.
Thank you for your help! Just taking 10 minutes out of your day to make this phone call will build support for this legislation that
will help protect Christians in Egypt.
List of cosponsors as of February 16, 2011
Rep Bartlett, Roscoe G. [R‐MD‐6]
Rep Bishop, Rob [R‐UT‐1]
Rep Bordallo, Madeleine Z. [D‐GU]
Rep Boswell, Leonard L. [D‐IA‐3]
Rep Burton, Dan [R‐IN‐5]
Rep Calvert, Ken [R‐CA‐44]
Rep Chabot, Steve [R‐OH‐1]
Rep Cohen, Steve [D‐TN‐9]
Rep Duncan, Jeff [R‐SC‐3]
Rep Ellmers, Renee L. [R‐NC‐2]
Rep Eshoo, Anna G. [D‐CA‐14]
Rep Faleomavaega, Eni F.H. [D‐AS]
Rep Forbes, J. Randy [R‐VA‐4]
Rep Fortenberry, Jeff [R‐NE‐1]
Rep Franks, Trent [R‐AZ‐2]
Rep Gowdy, Trey [R‐SC‐4]
Rep Holt, Rush D. [D‐NJ‐12]
Rep Huelskamp, Tim [R‐KS‐1]
Rep LoBiondo, Frank A. [R‐NJ‐2]
Rep Pence, Mike [R‐IN‐6]
Rep Pitts, Joseph R. [R‐PA‐16]
Rep Pompeo, Mike [R‐KS‐4]
Rep Ross, Dennis [R‐FL‐12]
Rep Schakowsky, Janice D. [D‐IL‐9]
Rep Smith, Christopher H. [R‐NJ‐4]
Rep Speier, Jackie [D‐CA‐12]
Rep Walberg, Tim [R‐MI‐7]
Rep Wilson, Joe [R‐SC‐2]
Establishment in Virginia (Federal Ref.: EIN 27-1220227) - P.O. Box 1450 Centreville, VA 20122
www.copticsolidarity.org