Well the press conference was yesterday at 12N and the bill was introduced in
the house in the evening.  Now, it is up to us to have a ground swell of
support and contact your federal house representatives.

The bill number is H.R. 3531

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all of you that have
helped in many different ways to help this happen.  I would like to especially
like to thank all the moms and babies that showed up, especially those form
LLL of MD/DEL/DC.  It was VERY obvious that this issue was important to them,
and the media really noticed.  Also, a special thanks to LLLI, ILCA, NAWD, and
the AAP for their organization endorsement of the bill.

Now our work really begins. ACTION that is needed by each one of you and all
that you know is:
        1.  Contact your federal house representative and encourage them to co-
sponsor the bill (H.R. 3531).  Why?  Because it is needed -
1.  Provide them with any story or stories of women and the difficulty they
have returning to work while breastfeeding
                                                                and/or
2.  Provide them with any story or stories about needing breastpump standards
- for example, I bought 3 breastpumps before I found one that worked for me,
or they hurt too much so I just decided to artificially feed my baby or they
worked fine until I was back at work and then it just didn't do what I needed
it to do
                                                                and/or
3.  Use the feminist side, that a woman shouldn't have to choose between
working and having a family and providing her baby with the best start
possible - breastfeeding

More than likely they will respond something like, "we will look into it".  If
so ask for them to let you know their decision, and you plan to call them back
in about a week.  If they decide not to co-sponsor, ask why and ask if at
least they will vote for the bill.  If you get a response as to why they can't
co-sponsor or vote for the bill, please send this information to me at
[log in to unmask] immediately, so we can work on addressing the issues given to
you.

You can follow the progress of the bill and get the full text on the net by
going to:
        http://thomas.loc.gov

Thanks again for all your help!!!
Barbara. NABA