9:19 AM Eastern - Friday, November 6, 2009

Victory! Vitter-Bennett amendment defeated

To [Your Senators]: Vote NO on Vitter-Bennett amendment http://DontWreckTheCensus.org
CHOOSE YOUR STATE
Thanks to your support, on Thursday the Senate voted NO on the Vitter-Bennett amendment by voting for for cloture in a 60 - 39 vote on the Commerce, Justice, and Science Appropriations bill. For now, this puts to rest the divisive Vitter-Bennett amendment.

Thanks to SEIU's Don't Wreck the Census campaign--our micro site and Tweet your Senator tool--we generated over 750 letters and 1,700 phone calls to members of the Senate, urging them to vote NO on the Vitter-Bennett amendment.

In a statement, SEIU Executive Vice President Eliseo Medina said:

"Today U.S. Senators put working families ahead of the politics of division and hatred. Joining a chorus of former U.S. Census Directors and advocacy leaders, the Senate voted down Senators Vitter and Bennett's misguided attempt to undercut 2010 enumeration efforts and mar this critical process with hateful, anti-immigrant politics."

Read full statement by Medina here.

Again--thank you for making calls, writing letters, blogging, and Tweeting your Senators to vote no on the Vitter-Bennett amendment. In addition to SEIU, the Don't Wreck the Census campaign was composed of the of the following organizations: AAJC, CAP, Demos, HNBA, LCCR, LDF, LULAC, MALDEF, NALEO, NDN, PFAW, SEIU.

Read coverage of the victory in NOLA.com, the Associated Press and the Wall Street Journal.

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Recommendations on SEIU.org

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