Thank you for helping make history.

"Letter to Editor"

03/07/2008

Dear Friend,

Thank you.

Late last night, after hours of being glued to C-SPAN, we witnessed a historic moment. The Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act passed the House of Representatives, by a vote of 268 to 148.

This was no small feat. The business lobby was working hard against us, and President Bush came out against the bill in favor of the much weaker Senate version passed last year.

Despite all the pressure from opponents, this legislation managed to accomplish a minor miracle in Washington - bring real bipartisan cooperation. 47 Republicans joined the 221 Democrats voting in favor of the bill.

This would not have been possible without your engagement in our campaign. Thank you for your calls, emails, and letters to Congress. This has been a real grassroots campaign against powerful interests.

We still have work to do, because the House and Senate need to come together to reconcile their differences. But yesterday's vote was a historic victory - the kind that come few and far between. We'll keep you posted on the next steps, but for now, congratulations on a job well done!

- David Wellstone and the Wellstone Action! team
(Adriana, Ben, Camille, DawnMarie, Elana, Erik, Fawn, Jane, Jeff, Jen, Kim, Laura, Lonna, Marge, Mattie, Pam, Peggy, Stephanie, and Tracey)