ALERT: FIRST Legislation Needs Your Help
 

Hello fellow FIRST Robotics Competition participants,

As some of you know, U.S. Representative Zoe Lofgren visited the 2003 Silicon Valley Regional and pledged to help FIRST gain federal money to support the FIRST Robotics Competition. Working hand in hand with a small group of FIRST veterans known as Legislation for FIRST Students (LFFS), she has requested the House Appropriations Subcommittee on VA, HUD to provide limited federal support for FIRST to the tune of $2,000,000 over two years. At this time, that $2 million would largely be used by FIRST to cut entry fee costs for FIRST teams. Getting this appropriation will not be “a walk in the park.” In order for FIRST to get this appropriation, teams in and near select congressional districts of the country will need to send letters and/or meet with their congressperson’s local staff and talk to them about supporting this request. Attached is a link to documents that include: a memo from the LFFS co-chairs (Ken Krieger & Norma Hammes) to all teams in and near congressional districts of the members of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on VA, HUD, a list of teams in and near congressional districts of the members of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on VA, HUD as well as their phone/fax numbers, a sample letter to your congressperson, and a brief description of the FIRST Robotics Competition that you should attach to your letter to your congressperson. Although the sample letter implies that you should only send in one letter per team from a “main contact,” it would be more effective if you sent in one letter per person (Teachers, Engineers, Parents, College Students, and Students) on the team, if at all possible. These documents should adequately prepare you to contact your congressperson, but should any problem arise, refer to the bottom of the memo and contact either Ken Krieger or Norma Hammes.

The LFFS is also committed to getting more pro-FIRST legislation passed. Although we cannot come forward with the details of these proposals yet, keep an eye out for another request of grass-roots support in other areas of the country. FIRST, being a 501c3 organization, cannot directly lobby congress, so it’s up to all of us to help FIRST expand their horizons. Thank you for your time.

http://www.seadawgs.com/LFFS/

-Bill Gold

your effort required!
 

It is very important that all the teams included in the "TEAMS_REPRESENTATIVES" help with this effort that will benefit all FIRST teams. This is the chance when you say to yourself “I can make a difference” and do something that could help out your team and others, because EVERY letter sent to the representatives counts.

Take a look at “Teams by Representative” to see which teams we are asking help from, and who is the congress member you are writing to, and their contact info.

The $2,000,000 will mean a discount for all teams' first event. This is by far one of the easiest fund raising activities you can do to get your team some money for registration. Although "Memo to teams" mentioned that you can send one letter per team, it is encouraged (and necessary) that EVERYONE in your team each write one letter, and send them all out together as a group of letters. The more people the better. Just imagine the representatives when they see all those letters thinking, "Wow, there are a lot of people wanting this. I better do something or they are not going to support me."

So, that means, every student, teacher, parent, engineer, and anyone else involved in your team each writing one letter to the representative in your district. Take a look at the "Sample Letter to Representatives" to see how to write one of those letters.

As the memo said, Timing is crucial . It is very important that your team get this done as soon as possible.

Also, it is very important that teams arrange meetings with the representatives, because in-person meetings are far more effective than a letter. Advices for in-person and telephone meetings can be seen in the "Memo to teams". This is not one of the times when you say “I am too lazy to do this…” because whatever effort you aren’t putting forth, will come back when you have to work 10 times harder trying to get money out of sponsors.


So, I urge that all of you out there pay serious attention to this. If you are a student on your team, inform your team leader about this. If you are a team leader, talk to your team about it. This isn’t something casual you just skim through and ignore. We need the help of EVERYONE to make this work. So, get as many people as possible on your team to write a letter to the representative, and figure out who you want to bring to the in-person meeting with the representatives.

If this legislation is passed, you will be sure FIRST will make use of every penny from the $2,000,000.

Thanks for your time!

-Ken Leung

P.S. Just so it is easier for you, here is a list of teams we are asking to help with this.

1
33
47
65
68
73
92
94
111
128
174
191
201
211
226
300
304
308
321
340
382
386
401
405
406
414
416
422
435
444
451
469
554
561
563
573
578
587
600
618
619
638
642
648
665
677
762
801
837
859
872
891
892
900
926
945
963
975
977
979
1008
1030
1037
1065
1068
1083
1093
1113
1188
1218
1236

As a side note to MI teams that aren't listed in the district under Knollenburg, his is probably the district with a larger amount of FIRST teams than most:
This makes the team list:
1, 33, 47, 65, 68, 94, 201, 226, 247, 302, 308, 406, 469, 448, 573, 835, 1037, 1188, 1213

Woah... wait a sec
 

Hey people. Let's think about this for a second.

I love FIRST and all it stands for with all my heart, but we can't let our hearts cloud our judgement here. Do we really want the government funding private industry? For me, the answer is a resounding "No!"

This goes against everything that capitalism is. FIRST is a private organization and should rely on private funding. If FIRST fails miserably because it runs out of corporate support, then that must happen. It's our job as members of this organization to lobby companies for the support we need.

The federal government should spend our taxes on protecting our Constitutional rights and defending us from foreign attack, not on FIRST.

Yes. It is the only way that some things will get done. It makes it profitable for companies to research helpful things that will not usually be high on their list to do. I forgot what Bush said he wanted to be developed. I believe it had to do with fuel cells. Besides I want the government funding money to get new technologies.

The government is not "buying" FIRST, just funding it. I don't know who wouldn't jump at the chance of $2 mil if anyone gave it to them. If the government has money to burn, let them spend it on FIRST. You really didn't back up your statments with what is so wrong with the gov. funding FIRST. FIRST is a private organization but that doesn't mean it can't obtain federal funding. What makes FIRST anyway, our nation's schools right?

Why does it only take only a few posts for someone to make a wonderful thread go bad?

This legislation (in a nutshell) says that the $2 million would be added to NASA's budget for the sole purpose of sponsoring teams. It doesn't come out of NASA's current budget, this is new money. NASA's already sponsoring teams, I don't see any reason why they shouldn't be able to sponsor more if given the proper funding.

-Bill Gold

I'm interested in helping (hopefully so will be team 294 when they see this) but we aren't on the list. How can we contribute?

Anyone not on the list of targeted teams who would like to show their support is encouraged to do so. You can do this by contacting your own congressperson, as well as other nearby congress members and follow the same instructions that are in the memo I linked to earlier. The reason we’re targeting those specific teams is that the first step in passing this appropriation is to move it out of that specific subcommittee in the House of Representatives, and those teams are located in and/or near the districts of the members of that subcommittee. Please feel free to talk to any congressperson you can and let them know that they should support this appropriation and that they should contact Zoe Lofgren and offer to sign onto a “Letter of Support” for this appropriation, or get in touch with the members of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on VA, HUD and express their support for this appropriation. Thanks for your interest Daniel.

-Bill Gold

Re: Woah... wait a sec
 

I could complain that the cost of FIRST sponsorship by the private sector is ultimately passed on to me, the consumer. But that would make as little sense as complaining that my taxes were being spent that way. Either way, it’s not a cost, but an investment.

The battlefield of the very near future will include a mix of RC and autonomous vehicles. At least that’s way our side has it planned. Is it not worth the investment to provide that it’s American bots rather than American boots that hit the ground in our defense? Can we afford to loose those engagements simply because our brightest minds decided that protecting our way of life was someone else’s job?

Think long and hard about that!

Budget: $2,000,000
Robot Cost: $4,000 (Including replacement parts)

2,000,000 / 4,000 = 500.

500 teams could have their bot fully financed by NASA over the next to years. Or 1,000 teams could get 1/2 of their bot financed by NASA. If the government should pull all FIRST funding, there would be a large deficit. Including regionals dropping and teams dropping.

I would like to see $2m come into FIRST's hands, even if $1 is never to reach me directly, regardless of source.

The government really doesnt have money to burn... we have a debt that is somewhere around/over 30 trillion dollars I believe. And although I dont agree with George, I do understand his reasoning, and technically he is correct. The system of Capitalism is supposed to be run by the people for the people, not by the government. Thatd be Socialism/communism/totalitarianism.

And why do you say a wonderful thread went bad? I havent seen any problem so far...

Cory

2 points.
1st. do you know where "your" taxes really go? Do you have any idea how many special interest groups get money for nothing? Do some research on federal grants some time, you won't mind FIRST getting a little bit more of the pie. This is a good cause that will benifit the US eventually.

2nd. It would be nice if that money went directly to FIRST that way all teams benefit. If the cost of registration was $1000 less per event or even for the first event that could really make a difference to many teams. Not everybody gets the NASA grant.

And yet America has been in debt since it's creation. There have been times where we had surplus but that usually was quickly spent.

I just sent my letter to Rep. Knollenberg. Even though my team is not in his district, I was careful to mention that I am a voter in his district.

I wanted to thank so many of you for your interest and support. I received many emails, IMs, and a PM regarding this matter yesterday afternoon and evening. I also wanted to say that every letter to your congressperson or conversation with their staff counts. It's not everyday that these people deal with such a huge grassroots movement. FIRST teams, facilitated by the ChiefDelphi forums and email addresses on teams’ sites, have the ability to heavily influence our government. Make no mistake about it. We can be a huge lobbying group if we choose to do so. Our potential combined with a few legislators’ willingness to help us makes for a powerful combination to help change the culture of our country, which is the purpose of FIRST. This $2,000,000 over two years is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of pro-FIRST legislation that the LFFS has in the works at this time. The sky is the limit for all of us if we take our lobbying ability seriously. Everyone counts.

-Bill Gold

PS-
I just wanted to add that if you're going to write a letter, you shouldn't snail mail it to Washington D.C. Apparently, because of anthrax scares, everything mailed to Washington D.C. is delayed by a week or a few weeks. So if you're going to write letters you should fax them to the congressperson's office. But actually meeting with the congressperson's local staff in person and hand delivering the letter is most effective, especially if you ask to be informed as to the position the congressperson takes on the appropriation. That way they can see your enthusiasm and interest in person, and then relay that onto the congressperson :).

Another way to "Write Your Representative"
 

In addition to Bill's suggestions above, you can contact your Rep. electronically at the following web page:

http://www.house.gov/writerep/

Re: Another way to "Write Your Representative"
 

Thanks Jack - just sent in my team's letter via this method.

It would be nice to see our representative James Walsh get off his butt and do something good for Central New York.....

Aaron Knight
Webmaster and Videographer
Team 891: Neverending Chaos....
http://first891.topcities.com

I agree that on a moral basis, the govenrment should not give $2,000,000 (I just love the zeros) to FIRST or to NASA to give to FIRST because there are better things that it could be given to. I am even more strongly opposed to the logic that FIRST should get the money because other less worthy groups are getting it (honestly, to apply that to a more shocking situation, that"s almost like saying that stealing parts to use on your robot is alright because people steal for much worse reasons). Even though I don"t like the idea of the government giving FIRST $2,000,000 because it feels it should do something, but I believe it would give FIRST much needed publicity and would gain respect from greedy, selfish buggers because money would get the attention of profitable benefactors (if you saw that the government gave $2,000,000 to someone, you might also believe that they would be a good non-profit group to give some too as well). So I"m all for it, and I"ll get the teams in my state (there are few enough of us for me to do that) to help with this, and I"ll try and get my teamate"s father who works as the head of some part of Homeland Security to put in a good word for us ("FIRST is neccesary for the defense of freedom and democracy around the world").

...ugh...how unstructured...and such transient logic and opinion too...

So you don't think it's right for the government to give money to FIRST, but because it would end out allright in the end, you are for it anyway?

Anyway, I hate to divert the topic of this thread, but I'll see if I can add anything to this debate. The government's purpose, stated in the preamble to the constitution, is "to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity." Now, my first point: government-provided education promotes the general welfare. I doubt many people would argue against public education (well, the basic precept of it, that is--I know some argue against its current implementation). Funding FIRST is just a way to further educate our nation's youth. Now, onto my second point: funding FIRST is an investment in the future. As Dean Kamen said at a meeting on Capitol Hill, we shouldn't be begging congress for money and grants, or paying homage to buisnessmen ... they should be coming to us and wanting to give us money, and to invest in science and technology because they see that it does them good. Now, this won't happen until our culture changes, and that is a big part of what FIRST is trying to do--spread enthusiasm for science and technology. I personally think it's great that the government wants to increase their already tremendous support for FIRST.

I hope that made at least some sense. On another note, our team was not listed. In short ... is there any way to help, even though my team was not listed?

Stephen

PS.
I know this is about patents and copyrights, but it at least shows that the framers saw promoting the progress of science as a legitimate function of the federal governmet.

It is best not to use e-mail to contact representatives- in my experiences only 5.8% (seriously) actually pay attention to e-mails from people. Believe me, snail mail all the way.

Fax it, as mentioned above, because of the 2-week delay in fear of Anthrax.

Call me cynical, but I really can't imagine my Congressman paying a whole lot of attention to any of my corespondence, whether by FAX, letter, or e-mail. They have staffers for that - one to collect the FAXes, another to peruse the e-mail, and a third to at least count the number of quarantined letters.

OTOH, being poll driven, what they do pay attention to are "the numbers". If they get reports from a bunch of staffers about thousands of hits each regarding a single topic, then they just may ask a senior staffer to look into it.

So, I would not rule out any mechanism that just might get their attention, even if the odds were strongly against any particular one of them.

Unlike deciding whether to go with wheels or tracks, or skid versus swerve steer, this is not an XOR decision!

PS: Sorry for any mis-spelling, My Windoze is dead and my Linux-Mozilla doesn't do Java.

The following is another memo from Norma Hammes…


This memo follows up on last week's memo regarding Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren's $2 million appropriations request. As you may recall, a working group of FIRST parents, teachers, & mentors, LFFS (Legislation For FIRST Students) has asked participants in FIRST teams in selected geographic areas to contact their Congress Members (who are members of the Appropriations Subcommittee that will consider the FIRST appropriation request) & ask them to express their support for the appropriations request by signing on to a group letter written by Congresswoman Lofgren or, if they prefer, write their own letter of support.

At this point, we need to collect information from those of you who have made those contacts with your Congress Member.

1) If you have mailed a letter to your Congress Member -- to their Washington DC address, unfortunately your letter may not be received for several weeks. Due to the anthrax attack, all mail delivered by the US Postal Service to Capitol Hill is subjected to a lengthy process to check for anthrax. Therefore, if you have mailed a letter to Washington, please follow up by faxing a copy of it to the local office as well as the Washington office. Then call them to follow up (Go to step #2).

2) If you have mailed or faxed a letter or emailed your support for the appropriations request to your Congress Member, now is the time for you to follow up on your previous letter/email. Call the office you mailed it to (local/Washington) and ask to speak to the staff person who will be handling this appropriations request. Talk to that staff person, explain your request and make sure they received it and are aware of your prior letter/email to them. [Go to step #4 below]

3) If you have met with your Congress Member's local staff person, now is the time to follow up with them also. Call the staff person you met with to remind them of your request. [Go to step #4 below]

4) Ask that staff person whether the Congress Member has decided to support the request yet. If they have agreed to support it, ask them if they will be signing Congresswoman Lofgren's letter of support or writing their own letter. If they will be writing their own letter, ask them to do so within the next few days and to make sure to send a copy to David Carreiro (ph 202-225-3072) in Congresswoman Lofgren's office. If they have agreed to sign on to a group letter, they should immediately contact David Carreiro. IMPORTANT: Make sure to get this staff person's full name and direct telephone number and email address.

5) If they will not commit to writing/signing a letter of support immediately, proceed to set up a meeting with the local office of the Congress Member, as outlined in the earlier emails. Do not take "no" for an answer & do not take "he'll think about it" for an answer either. If the Congress Member wants to think about it, emphasize that a decision probably will be made by the Subcommittee in early June, so there is not much time to think about it.

6) Then email a report of what you have found out (including staff member's name, phone & email) to Norma Hammes at norma@goha.com. We need to compile a list of Congress Members who are willing to support the appropriations request & what specifically they are willing to do.

If you have any questions about this process, please feel free to call Norma Hammes at 408-297-8750 or email me.

Thank you all for your important work on this matter.
Norma Hammes

Yes, most congressmen do it this way. I believe that usually phone calls represent 1,000 people wanting something, a hand written letter counts as 100, and an email or fax counts as 10. Even though some methods count less than others, if calling makes you uncomfortable, just remember as long as you do something to try to make a difference, any little bit helps. Also remember, Congressmen try to get reelected every two years so bringing "pork" projects to their districts is highly favorable to both parties so I'm sure they're listening.

From my experience with administrations and red tape and politics (believe me, I went through a lot to get team 639 rolling), the best way to get what you want from people in power is to keep on bugging them, in person or phone or the most direct method possible. They have a very difficult time turning down someone staring them in the eye. While this may not literally be possible, if they know they are being watched, they will probably vote in your favor. Seriously, I don't think there will be people making phone calls to politicians opposing the appropriation, so if you all can let your senators know you're there, you will succeed.

I hate special interests, but as long as we have them, you might as well take your share of the pie.

- Patrick

Team 294 can help, we are really good friends with Senator Bowen, I don't know about the government that much, but i think it will help. She loves us. :D

Indeed, 487 I'm sure will pledge support. Around the Philadelphia area, I will see what i can do with our loca representatives and getting votes in the house.

To resond to those that are both for and against FIRST funding from the government, I say, why argue? Because this country was founded of free speech and freedom from tyranny. IN an ever-troublesoem age, people must make decisions for the greater whole. Is FIRST part of the greater hole?

Something Dave Lavery said at Chesapeake struck and stayed with me, that one person, because he wanted to, is heling change the world. Any person can change the world if they want it bad enough, and I want it. I'm going to take opportunities to further FIRST and interest in engineering. Engineers are helping design the inventions which will help us thrive as the human race. WE as FIRSTians should continue these dreams by any legal way possible.

Unfortunatly, Bowen is a state senator, and if I understand this right, this is in congress.

But I could be wrong.

Nope, you're right.

I am a team leader for team 979 and I will talk to my team about it. I'm not sure about how much support we can provide. But we will try to do anything within our power to help. Team 979 roxxx.

Are we sure?
 

I don't represent the opinion of my team in making this statement, but I'm going to throw it out there anyway.

I love FIRST, and I love being part of my team. I understand many teams have financial difficulty. But I still don't think that means FIRST should get federal government money.

First off, there would be several problems arising from this money. What do we do with it? Do we sponsor more teams? Do we help teams struggling for cash? Do we lower the registration fee for regionals? Should the "richer," more adequately (sp?) teams get this financial help too? Say teams do get financial help, what do they do? Can you imagine telling the judges how you raised $1000 less this year because you "got money from the government." Something tells me they won't be impressed.

A large part of the "Spirit of FIRST," is the unity of teams, built through fundraising activities, building the robot etc. Although it may be much much easier to get federal government money, I think FIRST might also be losing something. Things will never be the same after this. Should we keep asking for more money, as FIRST grows, year after year after year? Would we come to EXPECT that the government pay us more money every year?

Second, I just have problems in general with the government funding too many special interests and organizations. Fact is, there's a lot of good causes out there. Not even our government can give to them all. It's not the government's job to do so. Frankly, we must come up with better ways for FIRST to be recognized. If I had never heard of FIRST before in my life, but I saw on the news that the government had approved $2 million funding for it, I wouldn't develop a positive image of FIRST in my head. Instead I'd think, "It's just another 'good cause' mooching off govenment dollars." Is this how we want FIRST to be known? As a greedy organization that expects government money?

Frankly, I'd rather see the government cut back on all these handouts and continue with tax relief. Think about it. Many of the corporations that sponsor FIRST teams pay MILLIONS of dollars a year in taxes. Cutting taxes would not only help these companies, but also help them turn a profit, which would mean many of them could once again think about sponsoring charities and organizations, like FIRST.

It is not the government's job to hand us money, even if our cause is a great one. We have always relied on corporate sponsorship and fundraising. Let's keep it this way. We should not develop this mentality that the government owes us money just because we are such a great group of people (although that's true, we are a great group of people). It's EASY to take money being handed to you. But is it really what's best for FIRST? Is it what's best for our government, to continually hand out millions of dollars to every good cause that comes its way? I would love FIRST to get extra money as much as anyone else, but let's be illogical.

I understand many of you will hate/disagree with me on this. But I just hope you think long and hard about this.

Too bad that the vast majority of science research is funded by the government.:rolleyes: Government funding has gone up for engineering. In fact engineering is second to the life sciences in the amount of funding. We might as well get a piece of the pie.

Re: ALERT: FIRST Legislation Needs Your Help
 

Count us in (team 1399). BTW the link on the post is unavailable. Could you send me the correct link?

Thanks :]

Re: ALERT: FIRST Legislation Needs Your Help
 

Ah. I'm sorry. I guess the seadawgs' webmasters accidentally took that down. I'm putting it back up as I type. Try it now.