We need you and every adult in your household to contact House Speaker Pelosi, House Majority Leader Hoyer, House Minority Whip Scalise, Senate Majority Leader McConnell, and Senate Minority Leader Schumer. They have the power in their respective chambers to affect the inclusion of HR 8438 as an amendment to the omnibus appropriations bill.

The House passed HR 8438 The Belarus Democracy, Human Rights, and Sovereignty Act of 2020 on November 18, 2020. However, due to other political priorities it cannot get a vote as a standalone legislation in the Senate. The bill is now under consideration to be included as an amendment to the omnibus appropriations bill to be voted by both chambers. This means that, if included, the contents of HR 8438 would be enacted but as a part of another law.

Although there is little opposition to the bill, there are other pieces of legislation not related to appropriations that are being pushed as amendments. We must tell Congressional leaders of both parties in both chambers that HR 8438 is the top priority to be added to the omnibus appropriations bill.

You need to send an e-mail to all of them via their contact forms and call each of their offices every day of this week through December, 18, 2020. When you click on each of their names below, we will provide you with the direct links to the contact forms, the phone numbers, and the messages to relay. The window of opportunity is narrow. We all must act now.

If you do not know why we are trying so hard to pass a sanctions bill against the dictatorial regime in Belarus, you can watch a 7-minute video on YouTube about the situation in Belarus or read the recent op-ed in the Washington Post by the national leader of Belarus in exile Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya.