Reply #22: Model letter written by Matt Jones of Southsiders for Peace

[GettysbergII]

This is a fantastic idea! Here's my letter--I'm sending it to my
senators and representatives. Please personalize the letter and send
one yourself!

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The federal government has a lot of decisions to make regarding the
rebuilding of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region. Obviously, right
now the priority is aid and recovery. But I’m sure that the
government’s favorite private contractors over at Halliburton are
working hard to get rebuilding contracts. This scares me. A disaster
like this is no time for profiteering.

It will take years to rebuild the region and it is reasonable to expect
that the entire region will be in an economic depression for many
years. Let’s help the area and not give contracts to Halliburton or any
other contractor. Private contractors will bring in out of state
workers, charge the government twice what they are paying the workers,
and send their profits out of the region.

Let’s do the right thing and put people in the region to work for the
Public Works Administration. It brought our nation out of the great
depression, and it is logical that if you cut out the company seeking
profits, you can do the same work for less money, while providing jobs
to workers in a region who so desperately need jobs.

I urge you to do the right thing for the people in the Gulf Coast
region and introduce legislation to re-open the Public Works
Administration for the reconstruction of the area.