To Whom It May Concern,
I am writing to you today to inform you about the “Economic Ladders to End Volatility and Advance Training and Employment,” or ELEVATE Act. This is a very crucial act that works to lower the unemployment rate by creating jobs through the help of federal funding which allows for states, “to provide eligible individuals with employment, training, and supportive services” (Hammond). It is also a new title to the Social Security Act for states to fund and implement subsidized employment programs. It was created with built-in guardrails that ensure that states pursue re-employment and retraining programs with a strong evidence base and low overhead, thus significantly lowering the chances of states using the federal money for other purposes. Funding through this act is also conditioned on states’ quarterly unemployment rates to create aggressive and fast-acting “automatic stabilizers”. In addition, it includes a demonstration project to identify “pro-worker employers” to ensure subsidized job placements don’t erode job quality, and a national self-employment benefit for recently unemployed workers to pursue entrepreneurship. Lastly, it consists of a national relocation assistance program to reimburse eligible individuals for the expenses associated with “moving to opportunity.”
This Act was created with a wide range of eligibility so that more citizens have access to the benefits of the program, therefore making it more profitable for business owners involved as well. Those who the program is aimed to help are the long-term unemployed; current and former recipients of public assistance programs like SNAP and TANF; those who are eligible for public assistance but not enrolled; noncustodial parents under a child support order; adults who were in foster care; and the formerly incarcerated. This allows for a wide range of those making up the unemployment rates to have a chance at getting the job training and access they so desperately lack and need. This then results in less people on the streets, more people working to increase production of businesses, and more people with money to invest back in the economy.
The reason for writing you today is not only to inform you about this very important Act, but to also ask for your support towards this Act. As can be seen from the brief description above, it is a very important act that is needed in our society today in order to improve the lives of our citizens. However, it needs your support as well in order to be implemented and started within our states. I look forward to gaining your support for pushing this Act forward, and I thank you in advance for your support and effort.
Best regards,
Student's name
References
This article follows the actual and typical style of most advocacy letters. In essence, you found a source, paraphrased and quoted from the source, and added a personalized introduction and conclusion to make it appropriate as a letter to someone.
Given that I expected you to put about 10 hours into this assignment, here are things I think you could have done and have not done that would have made it stronger:
- Look up the actual bill number and write about the specific bill. This is S.1920 Long-Term Unemployment Elimination Act of 2019.
- Find out where in the process it is and ask for help getting it through. It was introduced and read twice in the Senate and has been referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
- Made some assessment as to whether this policy is bi-partisan or has the potential to be so, or whether it is “Republican” or “Democratic” legislation, in which case, since it is a Senate Bill, it’s odds of passage depend upon it being a Republican Bill without strong opposition from the Democratic Senators or else a Democratic Bill with the real potential of gaining some support from Republicans. Making that assessment, you should have made your request to someone in the context of what sort of bill this is in terms of partisan politics and ideologies. In fact, this bill is a Democratic Bill, and the co-sponsors seem to be thinking that this bill is a sort of trial run for similar legislation they might be able to pass if the Democrats take the White House and the Senate next year. As both your Senators are Democrats, it might be worthwhile seeing whether they might find some Republican colleagues who could support the bill, or even persuade the Republicans to pass this sort of bill into law "for the good of the country" right away.
- You have addressed your work to “To Whom It May Concern” when this is a Senate Bill. The correct target for your letter is either of your senators, Duckworth or Durbin. Alternatively, you could have written a letter to the Chair of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (Republican Lamar Alexander of Tennessee) or the ranking minority member (Democrat Patty Murray of Washington). Even better, you might have found some Republican Senators on the committee that needs to hear this before it goes to the Senate floor for a vote, and tried to make a case that would be persuasive to a Republican (a conservative) in favor of the bill.
- You could have chosen another one or two or three sources to provide you with arguments for why this is a good bill. You have relied entirely on Samuel Hammond’s article in the Niskanen Center (a good source that relies on authentic experts and offers a mix of moderate conservative and liberal ideologies in its biases). That is actually the best source I could find, and even the $2 a Day website links to it. Given the idea that you ought to spend a couple hours at least in researching a paper, you might have also considered these sources I turned up with a Google Search using "long term unemployment" and "senate":
The summary of the bill made by one of the sponsors of it: https://www.vanhollen.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Van_Hollen_Long_Term_Unemployment_Pen_and_Pad.pdf
The article praising the bill (authors are Mark Paul and Dean Baker, and Dean Baker is one of the best economists I know of): https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/07/01/how-to-put-an-end-to-long-term-unemployment/
Or this article and the sources to which it links: https://nationalinitiatives.wordpress.com/2019/06/24/the-long-term-unemployment-elimination-act-creating-access-to-employment-equity-opportunity/ - You could have done a bit more writing in your own voice instead of the high level of paraphrasing and quoting you used. In an actual letter, I think the staff person (or the actual senator) who reads your letter can tell the difference between the “voice” of a constituent and the “voice” of a lobbyist who tells constituents what to say. You will be more persuasive if you study what the proponents or opponents of a bill have to say, and then write your own argument using your own understanding. The second best strategy is to offer a series of direct quotations or a longer block quotation and then offer your own paragraph summarizing and interpreting the implications of what you have just quoted.
- You might have thought of reasons people would oppose the bill, given a fair representation of arguments against it, and then explained why those anticipated arguments were not strong enough to overwhelm your case.
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