April 15th

Tuesday was the culmination of months of planning and hours of work...The 2011 Greek Congressional Visits. Every year the national presidents and student leaders of fraternities and sororities around the United States come to DC and lobby on behalf of the Collegiate Housing and Infrastructure Act. The bill was introduced in 2003 by Paul Ryan and passed the House but failed in the Senate. Each year it has been reintroduced and has gained sponsors since then but has never passed into law. I will give you a quick background on what the bill actually does and then explain sort of the series of event that go along with the visitis.

Bill Text Information

Under the tax code, charitiable contributions to colleges and universities for student housing improvements is tax-deductible. So if you make a donation for Scott Hall at University of Illinois you may write that off 100%. However, that same donation made to not for profit student housing like fraternities, sororities, Newman Centers, Hillels, and Evan Scholar housing is not. The bill eliminates this arbritary distinction between colleges and universities and allow charitiable donations made to not for profit student housing to be tax deductible.

So what does this do?

Affordability
Since 2000, the average cost of tutiton and room and board has increased tremendously. The average student loan debt is $24,000 and the cost of education is rising every year. Collegiate Housing and Infrastructure Act makes college more affordable by encourageing charitibale contributions that will drive down housing expenses.

Safety
Increasing age and wear of not-for-profit student housing requires significant improvements needed for safety. 1200 facilites nation wide need infrastructure upgrades and only 39% of fraternal housing has sprinklers. Charitibale contributions made to student housing would allow money to be spent on necessary safety equiptment such as fire sprinklers, smoke alarms, and extinguishers.

Job Creation
CHIA will provide capital and safety upgrades that will create jobs for America. Private funds will create jobs for plummers, contractors, roofers, carpenters, and electricans. It is estimated that $1 Billion in capital imporvement projects are ready for construction.

So National Presidents of all the fraternities and sororities come to DC and help visit offices to persuade members of congress to sponsor the bill. If the bill has enough sponsors in the house and senate then it will be voted on the floor. I was in a group with Alan Brackett President of Delta Tau Delta, Sarah Lindsay President of Delta Delta Delta, and a girl named Emily Rankin from UCLA that was a Tri Delt. We visited 11 congressional offices and the visits went very well.

I switched over back and forth from teams to visit Illinois Senate Offices, Delta Tau Delta connections, and my district in Illinois. That night was the Fraternity and Sorority PAC Dinner and 25 members spoke during the night. I have pictures with Sam Graves, Trent Lott, John Breaux, Robert Hurt, Sheila Jackson Lee, and Tom Carper.

The morning after we had a Fraternity and Sorority PAC meeting for four hours and then I went back to work. Overall, long but successful process.

peace'