OVERSEAS
AMERICANS WEEK 2008
OAW Result Summary 2008
During the week
of April 14th, Americans Resident Overseas (AARO), American Citzens
Abroad (ACA) and the Federation of American Women’s Clubs Overseas (FAWCO)
in Washington joined forces in Washington under the auspices of
Overseas Americans Week 2008 (OAW). With an ambitious agenda, OAW
wound up a successful week, bringing the voice of Americans abroad
to Washington DC and promoting the interests of Americans working
and living abroad. ...read
more
A record
delegation is making final preparations for Overseas Americans Week
2008
in Washington D.C.
April 13 - 18, 2008
Representatives
of 3 major overseas citizen advocacy organizations* will once again
meet throughout the week with legislators and their staffers, and
key government agencies and departments. In this crucial election
year, they are making voting from overseas a prime focus of their
week, alongside promoting the recently formed Americans Abroad
Caucus.
Overseas Voters and the 2008 elections
A reception has
been organized for a number of Members of Congress to salute the
members of the caucus and turn a spotlight on the specific situation
of overseas voters. Speaking at the reception will be Michael G.
Caudell-Feagan, Director of “Make Voting Work” and Senior Officer of
the Pew Center on the States (The Pew Charitable Trusts).
The
reception is being sponsored by Clements International
http://www.clements.com, a leading insurance provider for
expatriates and businesses operating internationally.
The Americans Abroad Caucus
Formed one year
ago, the new caucus now has 24 members who, in joining, have
affirmed their understanding of the issues of concern to overseas
Americans, such as voting, taxation, transmission of citizenship,
access to Medicare… One of the first things the two Co-Chairs did
was to urge their colleagues, in two letters to Congress, to change
their websites to make them more accessible to their overseas
constituents. More recently, legislation has been proposed by two
of the Caucus members to simplify procedures for overseas voters and
ensure enfranchisement of all eligible citizens. The delegates to
Overseas Americans Week will be strongly advocating support for
those bills, in hopes of seeing passage of election reform
legislation in time for the November elections.
The members of Americans Abroad Caucus
are:
Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY)
Joe Wilson (R-SC)
Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX)
Frank Wolf (R-VA)
Chris Van Hollen (D-MD)
John Boozman (R-AR)
Donna Christensen (D-VI)
Alcee Hastings (D-FL)
Steve Cohen (D-TN)
Kay Granger (R-TX)
Henry Waxman (D-CA)
Michael Honda (D-CA)
Tom Davis (R-VA)
Michael Capuano (D-MA)
Susan Davis (D-CA)
Charles Gonzalez (D-TX)
Michael Conaway (R-TX)
Donald Payne (D-NJ)
Janice Schakowsky (D-IL)
Mike Doyle (D-PA)
Jim Moran (D-VA)
Rush Holt (D-NJ)
James McGovern (D-MA)
André Carson (D-IN)
* AARO:
Association of Americans Resident Overseas, founded 1973, based in
Paris
ACA:
American Citizens Abroad, founded 1978, based in Geneva
FAWCO:
Federation of American Women’s Clubs Overseas Inc., founded 1931,
worldwide network
For
more information on Overseas Americans Week 2008, contact:
AARO:
contact@aaro.org
ACA:
info.aca@gmail.com
FAWCO:
USLiaison@fawco.org
2008 Goals of
Overseas Americans
-
Citizenship: All Americans should enjoy the same right to
transmit U.S. citizenship to all of their children at birth,
including all children born to or adopted by a U.S. citizen
abroad.
-
Medicare: Americans abroad who are eligible for Medicare
benefits in the U.S. should be able to receive these or equivalent
benefits while abroad.
- Social
Security: Americans who have contributed to U.S. Social
Security and who receive Social Security pensions abroad should
not be penalized under "windfall elimination provision" rules (WEP)
simply because they also receive a foreign source pension.
Overseas Americans should be allowed to contribute voluntarily to
U.S. Social Security.
-
Taxation: U.S. citizens working overseas are subject to a tax
liability in their country of residence and in the U.S., putting
American business and citizens overseas at a competitive
disadvantage. This tax burden discourages American companies from
sending Americans overseas to develop export markets. Congress
should eliminate the cap on the foreign-earned income exclusion,
as proposed in the Working Americans Competitiveness Act, S 1140,
introduced in the 110th Congress. The stacking measure and the
limitation on housing exclusion, introduced in April 2006, should
be repealed.
- Voting
Procedures: Procedures should be simplified for absentee
registration and voting for Americans abroad. The implementation
of the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act should
make broader use of technology and in every case provide equal
benefit to both U.S. civilians and military personnel overseas,
who are covered together under the Act. Timely ballot delivery and
transparent vote counting procedures for UOCAVA voters should be
given priority.
- Voting
Rights: Only sixteen states explicitly allow Americans reared
abroad to exercise their constitutional right to vote in federal
elections by registering to vote using the legal voting residence
of their U.S. citizen parent(s). This right should be granted by
all states and the District of Columbia.
-
Violence Against Women: VAWA, The Violence Against Women Act
of 2000, was the first comprehensive federal legislation
responding to violence against women in the United States. This
program continues to provide millions of much-needed dollars per
year in funding to help domestic violence agencies serve victims
in the USA. While we support and applaud VAWA legislation, to
date, no VAWA funding has been allocated to serve the population
of Americans living overseas.
View a detailed
21
page pdf file further explaining the 2008 positions.
This is a large 2 MB download.
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