In February 2007, thanks to the efforts of overseas Americans activiist Lucy Laederich, two members of the House of Representatives, Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Congressman Joe Wilson (R-SC), formed the first bipartisan Americans Abroad Caucus to address the concerns of the more than four million US citizens living outside the United States. The caucus has now grown to sixteen members.

Getting the caucus together and increasing the membership was one of the main goals of Overseas Americans Week 2007 and ACA joins FAWCO in thanking these two enterprising Members of Congress for this wonderful and most promising new initiative.

A caucus is an informal group that brings together members of Congress who want to combine their political muscle to take action on a given issue. While caucuses do not receive funding, staff, or office space, this Caucus can provide a forum for overseas Americans to make their voices heard in Washington.

Current members of the Caucus, in addition to Carolyn Maloney and Joe Wilson, are John Boozman (R-AR), Julia Carson (D-IN), Steve Cohen (D-TN), Tom Davis (R-VA), Alcee Hastings (D-FL), Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), Henry Waxman (D-CA), Michael Capuano (D-MA), Donna Christensen (D-VI), Susan Davis (D-CA), Kay Granger (R-TX), Michael Honda (D-CA), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), and Frank Wolf (R-VA).

We encourage all Americans living overseas to write to their respective Members of the US House of Representatives to encourage them to join this Caucus, as well as to their US Senators to encourage them to set up a similar caucus for the same purposes. You can find full contact information for your U.S. Representatives and Senators by consulting the web sites www.house.gov and www.senate.gov and typing in the zip code of your most recent place of residence in the US (i.e.your US voting address). Here is a sample letter to get your congressman to join the Caucus.