Finding Ulysses

We’ve all seen the terrible footage of balls of tar washing up on white sand beaches, wildlife swimming in oil, and relatives of the workers killed when the Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling rig exploded. We’ve watched for 3 weeks now as BP, Transocean, the Coast Guard, and the U.S. military have been powerless to stop the rapidly expanding oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

But what can we do? We’re in Trumansburg, a thousand miles away from the Gulf of Mexico.

It just so happens that we have a person who’s supposed to be working for us, representing people in Trumansburg in the larger affairs of the United States. That person’s name is Mike Arcuri. He’s our voice in the U.S. House of Representatives.

As a member of the House of Representatives, when there’s a national emergency like the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico, Congressman Arcuri has the responsibility to act. He doesn’t have to be the author of legislation dealing with the crisis, but when someone else writes such legislation, he has the responsibility to support the legislation or to support an alternative.

Inaction in these circumstances is inexcusable, but inaction is what we’re getting from Michael Arcuri. There’s a good, simple bill in the House right now. It’s H.R. 5248, the No New Drilling Act. The legislation would do what the title suggests: Put a moratorium on expansion of offshore drilling.

Mike Arcuri is not a supporter of the No New Drilling Act. He hasn’t cosponsored the bill, or any other bill that would help our government deal with the current oil spill disaster or prevent future ones.

If you’d like to see Arcuri take action to move Congress forward in dealing with the Deepwater Horizon disaster, you can call Arcuri’s closest local office at: 315 252-2777 .