Call Congress in Support of CHIA
 Sigma Alpha Epsilon asks you to take three actions to support fraternity housing. We need you to encourage lawmakers to push for the Collegiate Housing and Infrastructure Act (CHIA) that is being considered by Congress. Here's how:
 Join the NIC Facebook Application, which is called "Petition Your Congressman." Sign the short petition with personal information to their Representatives/Senators.
- If you do not use Facebook, please use www.fraternalcaucus.com to register. Then send an e-mail to your Senators/Representatives in support of CHIA. If you have not sent an e-mail from this website since January 1, 2009, please send your e-mail message now.
- Make a personal contact, as described below.
CHIA is a bill that would allow our Sigma Alpha Epsilon Foundation and other not-for-profit entities to use tax-deductible charitable contributions to the Sigma Alpha Epsilon Foundation to make grants to local house corporations that can be used to construct, modify or improve our chapter houses. Life-safety equipment, such as fire sprinklers, may save a brother's life and are needed in many of our chapter houses. Under the current tax law, donations may not be used for chapter housing.
CHIA has been introduced in the House as HR 1547 and in the Senate as S 781.
As a result, it is important that you ask your elected official to be in touch with both the leadership in their respective chamber and with committee leaders. Many of the CHIA components have an economic basis, and it is important that you emphasize those points in your conversations.
If you do not have a pre-existing relationship with the elected official, please call his/her office and speak to a relevant staff member. The best staff members to speak with are: (1) the Chief of Staff; (2) the Legislative Director; or (3) the staff member who handles tax issues. A list of contacts appears at the bottom of this page.
Below are the objectives of your call and a list of talking points Sigma Alpha Epsilon has prepared for you.
Last but not least, please report your calls to our team of volunteer lobbyists in Washington. After each phone call, please complete a contact form, which can be found at www.fraternalcaucus.org. This form is very important in our abilities to follow-up with your contacts.
Once again, we ask for your complete support as we rally to make a difference in Washington, a difference that will affect hundreds of thousands of college men and women. Our chances to finalize this bill are better now than ever before.
Objectives of Your Call
- Asking the official to commit to contacting one or more of the below listed Congressional leaders ASAP to urge the passage of the Collegiate Housing and Infrastructure Act (HR 1547/S 780) (CHIA)
- Reminding the official about what CHIA is, their past personal support for the bill (if applicable) and the strong bipartisan support the bill has in Congress
- The reasons that CHIA would help college students now
- Why passage of the CHIA would result in immediate economic activity across the country
Who Your Official Should Contact After Your Call
House Democrats
If you are speaking with House Democrats, ask them to contact some combination of (in priority order): (1) Charlie Rangel (D-NY/Alpha Phi Alpha) Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee; (2) Steny Hoyer (D-MD/Sigma Chi), House Majority Leader and sponsor of CHIA; (3) Shelley Berkley (D-NV/Delta Zeta), lead sponsor of CHIA; (4) Jim Clyburn (D-SC/Omega Psi Phi), House Majority Whip; and (5) David Obey (D-WI), Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee
House Republicans
If you are speaking with House Republicans, ask them to contact some combination of (in priority order): (1) Jim McCrery (R-LA/Sigma Nu), Ranking Member of the House Ways and Means Committee; (2) Jerry Lewis (R-CA/Theta Delta Chi), Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee; (3) Roy Blunt (R-MO/Kappa Alpha Order), the House Minority Whip; (4) Eric Cantor (R-VA/Phi Sigma Kappa), the Chief Deputy Minority Whip and sponsor of CHIA; and (5) Paul Ryan (R-WI/Delta Tau Delta), lead Republican sponsor of CHIA
Senate Democrats
If you are speaking with Senate Democrats, ask them to contact some combination of (in priority order): (1) Max Baucus (D-MT/Sigma Alpha Epsilon), Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee; (2) Harry Reid (D-NV), Senate Majority Leader; and (3) Robert Byrd (D-WV/Tau Kappa Epsilon), Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee; and (4) Ben Cardin (D-MD/Pi Lambda Phi), lead Senate Democratic sponsor of CHIA
Senate Republicans
If you are speaking with Senate Republicans, ask them to contact some combination of (in priority order): (1) Chuck Grassley (R-IA/Alpha Gamma Rho), Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee; (2) Jon Kyl (R-AZ/Pi Kappa Alpha) Senate Minority Whip; (3) Thad Cochran (R-MS/Pi Kappa Alpha), Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Committee; (4) Pat Roberts (R-KS/Pi Kappa Alpha), lead Republican sponsor of CHIA
Talking Points
Background- Passing CHIA is a bipartisan effort to make college more affordable. Last session, we had 210 House sponsors and 40 Senate sponsors, and the bill enjoyed wide bipartisan support that cuts across all factions in Congress.
- Congresswoman Shelley Berkley (D-NV) has taken over as the lead sponsor for CHIA in the House after Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-OH) passed away unexpectedly in August. Congresswoman Tubbs Jones came very close to getting this bill passed in the current Congress and we would like to finish what she started.
Officials Who ARE CHIA Sponsors
- As you recall, you are a sponsor of the CHIA in this Congress.
- You remember what this bill does. The bill allows charitable contributions to be used by not-for-profit entities like the foundations of fraternities and sororities to make grants to improve the not-for-profit housing they own and operate for students. Other not-for-profit groups besides fraternities and sororities will also benefit from this bill.
- Let me explain how this bill would work for my own organization and what its passage would mean for us. Explain how the bill works for your organization and specify the expected benefit for your group (“If this bill passes, Alpha Beta Gamma is likely to raise about $5 million in the next few years to help build or improve housing for 20 chapters housing 1,000 members”). Don’t assume sponsors understand how your chapter housing and foundation fundraising currently works or how CHIA would help you.
- The end beneficiary of passing CHIA are the 115,000 college students who currently live in fraternity and sorority housing across the country and the students who will live there in the future. With the economy slumping, we provide an important source of affordable housing for students stung by large tuition increases and a decreasing ability for many families hard-pressed to afford the high cost of college.
Officials Who Are Not CHIA Sponsors
- You aren’t currently a sponsor of this bill, but I think you support what it means for affordable student housing at a time when college costs are a major burden for many American families. Let me tell you what this bill does. The bill allows charitable contributions to be used by not-for-profit entities like the foundations of fraternities and sororities to make grants to improve the not-for-profit housing they own and operate for students. Other not-for-profit groups besides fraternities and sororities will also benefit from this bill.
- Let me explain how this bill would work for my own organization and what its passage would mean for us. Explain how the bill works for your organization and specify the expected benefit for your group (“If this bill passes, Alpha Beta Gamma is likely to raise about $5 million in the next few years to help build or improve housing for 20 chapters housing 1,000 members”). Don’t assume sponsors understand how your chapter housing and foundation fundraising currently works or how CHIA would help you.
- The end beneficiary of passing CHIA are the 115,000 college students who currently live in fraternity and sorority housing across the country and the students who will live there in the future. With the economy slumping, we provide an important source of affordable housing for students stung by large tuition increases and a decreasing ability for many families hard-pressed to afford the high cost of college.
Why Does CHIA Matter For The Officials District or State?
- Let me personalize how I think this bill matters here at home. Our statewide university system has a great deal of housing owned and operated by fraternities. Many of our private schools also are home to not-for-profit housing operated by fraternities.
- Personalize your story with local facts relevant to your housing situation.
- Many of these chapters will immediately raise money to make life-safety improvements, expand their housing or otherwise make it more suitable for student needs.
- While this is a change in the tax code, it is important to remember that college students are the direct beneficiaries of these changes.
- Of course, students from our Congressional district and state go to college all over the country, so no matter where they go, CHIA will benefit them by providing access to more safe and affordable housing.
Why Does Passing CHIA Provide an Economic Stimulus?
- We are the nation’s largest not-for-profit student landlords outside the host institutions themselves. In the fall of 2008, there are at least 115,000 college students living in more than 4,000 not-for-profit student housing units nationwide owned and operated by fraternities and sororities. Another 300,000 students don’t live in those houses but use the facilities for a variety of academic, social and community-service activities.
- There is a $1 billion backlog in fraternity housing infrastructure upgrades, improvements and new construction that passing CHIA would help to jump-start. This backlog includes construction and renovations at least 1,200 different facilities nationwide. The only thing holding back those projects is our inability to raise the needed funding under current law.
- We are cost-effective. The Committee on Joint Taxation “scored” the cost of CHIA at $148 million over ten years in 2007.
- CHIA will create and sustain construction jobs. Every dollar involved with this change to the tax code ultimately gets paid out for new construction jobs to build, expand and upgrade not-for-profit student housing nationwide. Those jobs are not being created now because existing tax law has created a barrier to our organizations raising the money needed to improve our housing. CHIA will create and sustain American manufacturing jobs. The fire sprinklers we need to install at most of our facilities nationwide are usually manufactured inside the U.S.
- Our sector of the housing industry does not always have access to other credit options. In this credit crisis, it is very difficult for not-for-profit student housing to obtain traditional loans for their construction/improvement projects. So raising private funds via charitable contributions is all the more important and that can best be done if CHIA passes.
Passing CHIA Will Help Make College More Affordable and Upgrade Their Housing.
- College students and their parents are struggling in this economic environment. It will be harder to pay for tuition when stock portfolios have been reduced, inflation is rising, loans have higher interest rates and some forms of credit may no longer be available.
- The economic crisis is going to make college tuition and room/board more expensive so helping not-for-profit student housing thrive helps more students. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 21 states have cut their higher education budgets since July 1. Public schools squeezed by state budget cuts are likely to have large-scale increases in tuition and room/board expenses as soon as January. We are the cheapest form of housing on many campuses.
- College expenses outpace inflation but resources to pay do not. According to the College Board’s Annual Report on higher education costs, tuition and fees for four-year public universities increased an average of 6.4% (5.9% for private schools) in 2008-09 school year. ($6,585 for instate tuition and $17,452 for out of state), well above the inflation rate of 5.6%. When you add room and board, the average public school costs $18,300 a year and private school costs $37,390.
- Higher college costs may keep qualified students out of school, so it’s important Congress look for immediate ways to keep costs reasonable. According to www.meritaid.com, 16% of students are thinking about deferring going to college due to high costs. Having more not-for-profit student housing like ours will help more students afford to go to college and stay there. Passing CHIA would help make student housing safer and more efficient. More than 60% of the not-for-profit housing we own and operate does not have fire sprinklers, usually because current tax law makes it nearly impossible for us to raise the needed funding. Passing CHIA will allow our organizations to help raise the money to make critical life-safety improvements nationwide. Given the age of our housing, there is also a pressing need to install modern heating, cooling and electrical systems that are more energy efficient and environmentally friendly.
Conclusion: Ask the Official to Press Congressional Leaders to Add CHIA to Stimulus
- We need you to help us by reaching out to Congressional leaders who are involved with developing the stimulus package and push them to add CHIA to the package.
- Here are some of the people I am told it would be most effective for you to contact in Congress: (Reference names listed above in “Who Your Official Should Contact After the Call”).
- Will you do that for us this week?
CONGRESSIONAL CONTACTS
Arizona
Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ/Pi Kappa Alpha) – Senator Kyl is a member of the Senate Finance Committee and is the second-ranking Republican in the entire Senate. He has no public position on CHIA.
Office Phone: (202) 224-4521
Arkansas
Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-AR/Chi Omega) – Senator Lincoln is a member of the Senate Finance Committee. She has no public position on CHIA.
Office Phone: (202) 224-4843
Iowa
Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA/Alpha Gamma Rho) – Senator Grassley is the Ranking Member (senior-most Republican) on the Senate Finance Committee. He has no public position on CHIA.
Office Phone: (202) 224-3744
Louisiana
Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA/Delta Gamma) - Senator Landrieu is a key member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, which will have jurisdiction over much of the economic stimulus bill. She is a long-time sponsor of CHIA.
Office Phone: (202) 224-5824
Congressman Jim McCrery (R-LA/Sigma Nu) - Congressman McCrery is the Ranking Member (senior-most Republican) on the House Ways and Means Committee, which has jurisdiction over CHIA and much of the economic stimulus package. He is a former sponsor of CHIA but is not a sponsor in the current Congress. He is retiring from Congress at the end of this year.
Office Phone: (202) 225-2777
Maryland
Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD/Pi Lambda Phi) - Senator Cardin is the former lead Democratic sponsor of CHIA from when he was a Congressman. He is a current sponsor in the Senate.
Office Phone: (202) 224-4524
Congressman Steny Hoyer (D-MD/Sigma Chi) - Congressman Hoyer is the House Majority Leader. He is a long-time sponsor of CHIA.
Office Phone: (202) 225-4131
Michigan
Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) - Senator Lincoln is a member of the Senate Finance Committee. She has no public position on CHIA.
Office Phone: (202) 224-4822
Mississippi
Senator Thad Cochran (R-MS/Pi Kappa Alpha) - Senator Cochran is the Ranking Member (senior-most Republican) on the Senate Appropriations Committee, which has jurisdiction over much of the economic stimulus package. He is a long-time sponsor of CHIA.
Office Phone: (202) 224-5054
Montana
Senator Max Baucus (D-MT/Sigma Alpha Epsilon) - Senator Baucus is the Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over CHIA. He has no public position on CHIA.
Office Phone: (202) 224-2651
New York
Congressman Charlie Rangel (D-NY) - Congressman Rangel is the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, which has jurisdiction over CHIA and much of the economic stimulus package. He has no public position on CHIA.
Office Phone: (202) 225-4365
Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) - Senator Schumer is a senior member of the Senate Finance Committee. He has no public position on CHIA.
Office Phone: (202) 224-6542
Pennsylvania
Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA/Pi Lambda Phi) - Senator Specter is a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee. He is a long-time sponsor of CHIA.
Office Phone: (202) 224-4254
South Carolina
Congressman Jim Clyburn (D-SC/Omega Psi Phi) - Congressman Clyburn is the House Majority Whip. He has no public position on CHIA.
Virginia
Congressman Eric Cantor (R-VA/Phi Sigma Kappa) - Congressman Cantor is the Chief Deputy Minority Whip in the House. He is a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, which has jurisdiction over CHIA. Congressman Cantor is a long-time sponsor of CHIA.
West Virginia
Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) - Senator Rockefeller is a senior member of the Senate Finance Committee. He has no public position on CHIA.
Office Phone: (202) 224-6472
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