On Wed, 18 May 2005 00:55:13 GMT, Larry Dighera
wrote in ::

On Thu, 28 Apr 2005 16:29:14 GMT, Larry Dighera
wrote in ::

Here's a quote:

http://www.livejournal.com/users/rjwhite/
"It is not an easy prospect for a business to attract advertisers,
subscribers or investors when the government is providing similar
products and services for free," Santorum said.


Here's the response to my e-mail inquiry I received from one of my
senators:

From:
Subject: Responding to your message
Date: Tue, 17 May 2005 20:10:47 -0400
Message-ID:




May 17, 2005


Dear Mr. Dighera:

Thank you for contacting me regarding
S.786, the National Weather Service Duties Act of
2005. I appreciate the opportunity to respond to
your views, and I share your concerns about this
bill.


S.786 seeks to severely restrict the
functions of the National Weather Service (NWS),
which is run by the federal National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration. The NWS currently
offers a wide range of free weather services for
all Americans, including invaluable information
for airplane pilots, farmers, and those seeking
details about severe weather in their areas.
This bill would prevent the NWS from offering
these free weather services to the public.
Instead, private weather companies, which rely
primarily on the same data used by the NWS, would
charge Americans for their services.


The NWS provides a reliable and effective
public service that is utilized by over six
million Americans each day. S.786 eliminates
this valuable service and unfairly penalizes
people by requiring them to pay for information
that should be available free of charge. This
bill is currently in the Senate Commerce
Committee, of which I am a member. Rest assured
that I am not in favor of this bill and that I
will work with my colleagues to prevent this bill
from reaching the full Senate floor.


Again, thank you for writing to me. Please
do not hesitate to contact me again about this or
any other issue of concern to you.




Sincerely,


Barbara Boxer
United States Senator

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If you wish to comment further on this issue or an any other
issue and want to ensure an answer--please complete the form at
http://boxer.senate.gov/contact/webform.cfm

Today, I received a nice letter from my other senator thanking me for
contacting her to share my opposition to the National Weather Service
Duties Act.

She says the legislation has been referred to the Senate Committee on
Commerce, Science, and Transportation, and should it come to the
Senate floor, she will keep my comments in mind.