A Week In
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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.