Tweet #NoMoreCuts to exchanges on Monday

The Alliance for International Educational & Cultural Exchange is engaged with a broad coalition (led by the Coalition for Health Funding) that opposes sequestration and further cuts to non-defense discretionary (NDD) programs, like international exchanges.

The NDD coalition is mobilizing a day of action on Twitter (using the hashtag #NoMoreCuts) this Monday, December 10, and we encourage you to be involved. Tweets are a simple but effective way of getting this message out to policy makers.

So what do you need to do? Simply tweet directly to your Members of Congress, and ask them not to cut exchanges and other NDD programs any further. Encourage your members, volunteers, followers, and friends to do the same.

Included below are sample tweets for your use. Make sure you include the Twitter handle of the Member you are tweeting in your message. This ensures that the Member will get a notification of being “mentioned” in your message and will see what you’ve sent. [For a complete list of Members and their twitter handles, please see these House & Senate lists. To find your Members of Congress, enter your zip code here. ]

Thank you for taking action on this important issue. We'll send a reminder on Monday, as well as begin tweeting ourselves!

Sample Tweets

• Leadership, cultural learning, & lang study: #InternationalExchange prepares Americans for global economy, [insert member twitter handle]. #NoMoreCuts!

• #InternationalExchange enhances US natl security & smart power. [insert member twitter handle] make sure there are #NoMoreCuts! #sequester

• A secure #America needs more than #military might! [insert member twitter handle] #NoMoreCuts to #InternationalExchange! #sequester

• #InternationalExchange is an investment in the future, expanding the vision of current & emerging leaders. [insert member twitter handle] #NoMoreCuts! 

• #InternationalExchange teaches Americans critical skills and enhances US global competitiveness. [insert member twitter handle] #NoMoreCuts! #sequester

• Discretionary cuts to #InternationalExchange harm the #economy! [insert member twitter handle] say #NoMoreCuts! #sequester

• #Sequestration means an 8.2% cut to #InternationalExchange funding in 2013. [insert member twitter handle] make sure there are #NoMoreCuts!

• Discretionary investments have already been cut by nearly $1.5 trillion. [insert member twitter handle] make sure there are #NoMoreCuts! #sequester

• Remember [insert member twitter handle], over 3000 groups want you to say #NoMoreCuts to discretionary investments! #sequester

 Members of Congress need to hear directly from YOU, their constituents about the local impact of exchanges in their home states, districts, and communities. 

With permission of The Alliance, this IHEC Blog post is a copy and paste job (with only slight modifications) of an e-mail message I received from them on Thursday, December 6th.  IHEC Blog thanks The Alliance for all of their advocacy efforts in the international education arena.