Anna Aurilio, Director, Washington, D.C. office

This letter could not have been written a year ago.

As you’ll read in the pages of this newsletter, U.S. PIRG advocates worked this January to win a series of votes to reduce corruption in Congress, lower the price of Medicare prescription drugs, reduce interest rates on student loans and cut subsidies to Big Oil and shift the money to clean energy programs.

When Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi announced her ambitious plan to pass six public interest bills in the first hundred hours of the 110th Congress, U.S. PIRG advocates were ready with research, reports and effective advocacy.

In the wake of last year’s ethics and lobbying scandals, U.S. PIRG democracy advocate Gary Kalman and our coalition partners worked to win a rule that makes the way the House does business more responsive to the public and less responsive to fat cat lobbyists.

We are now working with the Speaker on independent and professional enforcement of the rules and disclosure of the activities of lobbyists.

Enforcement, in particular, is critical if Congress hopes to establish accountability among members of Congress and restore the faith of the American people.
In a big victory for seniors and taxpayers, U.S. PIRG health care advocate Paul Brown worked to win a vote to make prescription drugs more affordable for America’s seniors by allowing Medicare to use its bulk purchasing power to negotiate discounted drug prices.

H.R. 4 was passed despite the threat of a presidential veto and a heated campaign by the pharmaceutical industry. This industry spends more than any other industry on federal lobbying, campaign donations and congressional travel, and has launched a $100 million campaign to kill the Medicare price negotiation bill.

In a good first step toward making college more affordable for America’s students and families, the House passed H.R. 5, which cuts interest rates on federally subsidized Stafford loans in half, from 6.8 percent to 3.4 percent over the next five years.

U.S. PIRG’s higher education advocate Luke Swarthout’s research shows that the typical low- or middle-income student will save $2,300 in interest rates as a result.

Energy advocate Kate Johnson followed up on pledges made by candidates in our fall 2006 New Energy Future campaign.

She and our staff organized an environmental community-wide lobby effort to win a vote to shift $14 billion in subsidies and tax breaks for the oil and gas industry toward investment in clean renewable energy and energy efficiency.

A year ago, we could never have imagined so many public interest victories in the first month of the new Congress.

While there is much more work to be done to put the finishing touches on all of these efforts, this was a promising start.

In the coming months, we look forward to working with members on both sides of the aisle in the 110th Congress to win solutions to the pressing problems facing the country.

Anna Aurilio
Director, Washingon, D.C. office