Washington awaits

Dear Industry Colleagues,

While I have attended many memorable meetings and events during my years of involvement with ASA, I can honestly say some of the most rewarding times have been visits to Washington, D.C., to meet with members of Congress on behalf of ASA and our industry.

As a member-driven organization, it goes without saying that consistent input from members is crucial. Nowhere is that more important than through our advocacy efforts in Washington, D.C.

Thanks to the efforts of our leadership, ASA currently has and continues to develop a variety of tools to enable its members to provide their input in Washington through many channels. Dan Hilton continues to be a daily presence on Capitol Hill in our ongoing battle regarding issues such as the Marketplace Fairness Act, copper theft prevention, increasing our energy supply, LIFO repeal, tax reform, health-care reform and much more. Most recently at NetworkASA 2013, Capitol Hill appointments were set up for meeting attendees with their members of Congress as part of the overall agenda. The meetings were a big hit and there was even some drama involved as an added bonus!

If you would like to see who your members of Congress are and, more importantly, how they have voted on legislation important to our businesses, you can currently do so through ASA. I urge you to visit the Advocacy section of ASA’s newly redesigned website at www.asa.net/Advocacy to see firsthand what I am talking about.

In addition, if you want to review the ASA Political Action Committee’s activities or grant it permission to solicit you (as required by law), you can do that as well by contacting Hilton directly at dhilton@asa.net.

When we complain about Washington’s failure, you must ask yourself, “When was the last time I contacted my elected official?” Better yet, have you ever sent a letter or an email on your company’s letterhead to any of your members of Congress? Have you invited them to tour your company headquarters or meet with your leadership team? You may not be aware that all these things can be done through ASA. Through our efforts in making direct contact, a large number of senators, congressmen and congresswomen have reached out to solicit ASA’s input on legislation impacting manufacturers and small businesses in our industry. We are making a difference!

But as I mentioned earlier, nothing takes the place of the actual face-to-face visit. What better time for our industry to step up to the plate than April 9-10 as ASA and Plumbing Manufacturers International join forces for their first-ever joint Legislative Fly-In event in Washington. Strategically timed for the first week in April before many trade groups will have the opportunity to bring their agendas to Congress, leaders of the PHCP and PVF industry will join forces in Washington and be front-and-center advocating on our industry’s most important issues.

For more on the joint ASA-PMI fly-in, turn to this month’s ASA News. Additional information will be made available in the coming weeks at www.asa.net and through the mail.

See you in Washington in April!