SSDP Aid Elimination Penalty Week of Action

A note from SSDP's Field Director in Washington D.C.

Dear Activist,

Thank you so much for agreeing to take part in SSDPs Week of Action to Repeal the Aid Elimination Penalty. Your efforts during the coming week are going to dramatically increase our chances at finally scrapping the law that strips financial aid from students with drug convictions.

This past April, SSDP chapters generated a record number of phone calls to Congress, and as a result, a Senate committee included language in the Higher Education Act to remove the penalty. Unfortunately, the Senate voted to approve a last minute “No Pell Grants for Drug Dealers” amendment that re-inserted the penalty into the bill.

But its not over yet. We still have a good shot at getting repeal language through the House of Representatives. However, well likely need to beat back another unfriendly amendment, and members of Congress will only feel comfortable voting against the amendment if they hear that their constituents support repealing the penalty. Thats where you come in.

Because SSDPers like you generated an astounding number of votes for our Facebook Speed Grant this August, we won $1,000 that allowed us to print 15,000 postcards. Thank you! But blank postcards do little to sway congress. We need you to get people to fill them out and then return them to us so we can hand-deliver them to Capitol Hill. Weve done all we can to make this as easy as possible for you—now its up to you to do the rest.

Repealing this harmful penalty has been SSDPs flagship campaign since our inception in 1998. Since then, weve generated major media around this issue, built a broad-based coalition, and partially scaled back the law so that it affects fewer students. Thousands of SSDP members over the past decade have brought this issue this far, but we need you to help us give one final push so we can get rid of the penalty completely.

We've given you everything that you need, so go out there and show us what youve got. Together, we can get rid of this Drug War attack on education! After all, if we dont do it, who else will?

In Solidarity,

Micah Daigle
SSDP Field Director
office: (202) 293-4414
cell: (202) 669-5315
micah@ssdp.org

Our goal is simple: To get as many people as possible to fill out the postcards and then send them back to SSDP National. Contact Chris Chiles at (248) 961-0451 or chris@umdrugpolicy.org if you would like to sign a postcard or pick up cards to help get them signed. SSDP will have a table on the diag Thursday and Friday, so feel free to stop by and help out for whatever amount of time you can. Read our Take Action Guide to learn how you can help.