The decision about the Coast Guard Authorization Bill in the House of Representatives obviously has been postponed, probably until next week. This gives some more time to rally for the Delta Queen amendment, but remember the Committee on Rules will possibly decided already this week whether they allow the amendment to be made.

Please keep those letters, faxes, and phone calls pouring into the Rules Committee and your own Representatives and Senators!

For the meantime, here are some links to earlier postings at save-the-delta-queen.org that might be of interest to you:

– listen to the Save the Delta Queen Campaign’s fight song "Godspeed, Delta Queen" by Dan Landau

– read about the details of the Safety at Sea Act and SOLAS

– what the young generation has to say: Leonie (8): "I love the Delta Queen", Cole (12): "Good bye, Delta Queen – a poem"

– the list of members of the Rules Committee to be contacted

The Delta Queen’s fate is in the hands of 13 people.
We must reach them by Tuesday, February 26th. Please help!

+++ Update: the Rules Comittee now meets on April 22; please take action before that! +++

For the first time in this Campaign, legislation to save the Delta Queen could go before the full House of Representatives next week — but only if the House Rules Committee approves an amendment to the Coast Guard Reauthorization Bill that would continue the boat’s exemption from the 1966 Safety at Sea Law. The Committee will meet the afternoon of Tuesday, February 26.

If you have not done so already, please contact the members of the Rules Committee (see the list below) and urge them to approve Congressman Steve Chabot’s amendment to the Coast Guard Reauthorization Bill, H.R. 2830.

And even if you have done so, please contact your own Representative and ask him or her to vote in favor of the amendment when and if it reaches the House Floor on Wednesday, February 27. And ask everyone you know to do the same.

House of Representatives, Committee on Rules members:

Louise McIntosh Slaughter, Committee Chairwoman, New York, 28th District
Phone: (202) 225-3615
Fax:   (202) 225-7822

Michael Arcuri, New York, 24th District
Phone:  (202) 225-3665
Fax: (202) 225-1891

James McGovern, Massachusetts, 3rd District
Phone: (202) 225-6101
Fax: (202) 225-5759

Alcee Hastings, Florida, 23rd District
Phone: (202) 225-1313
Fax: (202) 225-1171

Kathy Castor, Florida, 11th District
Phone: (202) 225-3376
Fax: (202) 225-5652

Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Florida, 21st District
Phone: (202) 225-4211
Fax: (202) 225-8576

Doris Matsui, California, 5th District
Phone: (202) 225-7163
Fax: (202) 225-0566

Dennis Cardoza, California, 18th District
Phone: (202) 225-6131
Fax: (202) 225-0819

David Dreier, California, 26th District
Phone: (202) 225-2305
Fax: (202) 225-0819

Doc Hastings, Washington, 4th District
Phone: (202) 225-5816
Fax: (202) 225-3251

Peter Welch, Vermont, at-large
Phone: (202) 225-4115
Fax: (202) 225-6790

Pete Sessions, Texas, 32nd Distric
Phone: (202) 225-2231
Fax: (202) 225-5878

Betty Sutton, Ohio, 13th District
Phone: (202) 225-3401
Fax: (202) 225-2266

It’s probably the best chance we’ll get to save the Delta Queen: During the week of February 25th – 29th the House of Representatives will vote on the Coast Guard Reauthorization Bill. If allowed by the Committee on Rules, an amendment to this bill, introduced by Rep. Steve Chabot, will exempt the Delta Queen from the Safety at Sea Act.

Please, by all means, do what you can to support this! Contact your Representative and urge him to vote for this bill (H.R. 2830). The best way to contact your Representative is call personally or send a fax to the District office in the week of February 18th – 22nd when the members of Congress are at home for a Presidents’ Day work period. They’ll be back in Washington on February 25th latest, but that already is the week where the bill is up for vote.

There is a catch, though: It’ll be a last minute decision whether the Rules Committee will allow the amendment to the bill. So please, don’t wait until you hear that the amendment is being accepted. Let your Representative know right now, on Monday or Tuesday this week how save the Delta Queen is – no matter what others are telling them. There is a letter from Delta Queen Discovery Guide Mary Charlton giving a lot of background information on this (http://www.steamboats.org/index/delta-queen-exemption-background.html).

If the amendment is being accepted and the House votes for the bill, this will be a fantastic success for the Save the Delta Queen Campaign, though it’s still only half way: The US Senate still has to accept the exemption for the Delta Queen, too. When the amendment is being accepted by the House, open a bottle of champagne, but then return to work and continue to support the campaign! We also need a vote from the Senate!

We’ve just been informed that House Majority Leader Rocky Adkins (representing the 99th District) has introduced a resolution in favor of the Delta Queen in the Kentucky House of Representatives on Friday February, 8.

Bluegrass State people, let’s go!  Ask your Representatives to support this: Kentucky House of Representatives "HR 109".

Ohio State Representative Robert Mecklenborg has introduced a pro-Delta Queen resolution in the Ohio State Legislature. It has been passed out of the State Government Committee and is awaiting a floor vote.

Ohio Citizens: Please contact your state Representative and ask him or her to vote for this resolution. The number of the resolution to refer to is "HCR 36" (see http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/res.cfm?ID=127_HCR_36).

Cosponsors of the Resolution are Representatives Ross McGregor, Jim McGregor, Larry L. Flowers, Clyde Evans, Gerald L. Stebelton, James T. Raussen, Michelle G. Louis W. Schneider, Jr., Blessing, Dale Mallory and Jim Hughes.

Bill H.R. 3852 has got two more cosponsors just recently for a total of 24 Representatives supporting the bill now. New on the list are Robert E. Latta from Ohio and Bart Gordon from Tennessee.

The bill is supposed to save the Delta Queen. To get it straight to the floor of the House of Representatives without Rep. Oberstar’s the Transportation Committee having the chance to block it, the bill needs at least 218 cosponsors (a simple majority of the House or Representatives). It’s still a long way to go. Please continue working on getting the attention of Representatives, Senators and, also extremely important, the public via newspapers, talk radio and TV stations.

We’ve just received a poem about the Delta Queen from 12-year-old Cole Martin, from Huntsville, Alabama, that I’d like to share with everyone. We don’t take any reponsibility for shedding a tear or two when reading this, so be prepared. Cole, thank you very much for your contribution and support.

Goodbye, Delta Queen

She wakes up every morning
To a loud whistle blow.
She spends each day
as though it were her last to show.

All day, she watches her brothers and sisters on deck;
She listens to the ragtime sound.
She watches America’s towns go by.
Proud to be America’s angel riverbound.

She is royalty on the river.
Persistence and endurance are her claim to fame.
Why must they dock her?
She is the meaning of American spirit to tame.

These days of freedom are numbered.
She has been through good times and bad…that is our bond.
The Delta Queen should cruise toward the sunset…
and beyond.

Cole Martin, Huntsville, AL