Dear
Colleague letters are requests from members of Congress
interested in a given bit of legislation written to members of Congress who head up
committees with control over the immediate future of that
legislation.
In the case of the Dear Colleague letter we’ve been
talking about, the request came from the two co-chairs of the
Congressional Historic Preservation Caucus Representatives
Michael Turner (R-OH) and Russ
Carnahan (D-MO) is addressed to
Representatives Michael Simpson (R-ID) and James Moran (D-VA) who
head up the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee. The
subcommittee makes its recommendations to the main
Appropriations committee (there are 12 spending subcommittees in
the House and Senate). The main spending committee generally
accepts the recommendations of the subcommittees.
Dear
Colleague letters are very useful in that they provide some
indication of support for the legislation or funding level in
question. The absence of a Dear Colleague letter, or relatively few
signatures on a letter is a problem. Appropriators have to decide
how to split up a set amount of funding among a number of programs,
and often appreciate getting a sense of how their comrades (and by
extension, their comrades’ constituents) feel about programs within
their immediate control.
Dear
Colleagues are also a good way for our supporters to show their
support, especially if these legislators are not on a spending
committee. Generally but not always, members of the spending
committees don’t sign onto Dear Colleagues. This is not always the
case, and even if they don’t sign the letter, appropriators can see
what the request is and get a sense of what is hoped for.
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