Lobbying in DC

Well I've finally entered the world of the Senate Blog. I realize I needed to talk about my trip to DC.
The trip was very productive and I think we did a lot of good work. After meeting with Senator Dayton, Senator Coleman, Rep. McCollum, and Rep. Peterson I had a very good overall feeling. I feel the HR 609 should be defeated if it ever reaches the house floor. As of now it's been pushed back until at least the beginning of next year. HR 609 would cut federal student aid by almost 11 billion dollars. Bemidji State alone would lose $633,000 in campus based aid programs. The work the directors did in DC will help curb this loss.
The fight still isn't over and won't be until we know the final vote. I urge all students to call their Reps. and tell them to vote no on HR 609.

September Conference 05

For whatever it's worth, lets try to get this thing started. What better way to begin than by posting a bit about the conference we just returned from.

Needless to say, It was interesting. Every MSUSA event is in one way or another. I think we did a lot of good work and began to make some important decisions about things like the DC Summit 2006 and the Monitor. There were of course other things I won't list in this short post.

People were really surprised at the small size of our delegation this month: 3. Let's shoot for at least 8 in October, everyone.

Another Year Begins

And I think we should revive this blog.

Check this out...

Lawmakers urged to support tuition freeze, fund programs that help rural health care

Rally Day

Yesterday was MSUSA Rally Day, and it was great! We had the most students of any University, decent weather and lots of fun. We may have even picked up a couple of Senate applicants!

Read more on the subject on Nicole's blog.