In order to respond to the agenda of the new Democratic-led Congress, the American Foundry Society (AFS) will include several new issues at the Government Affairs Conference in Washington, DC, March 28-30, 2007. In addition to lobbying for continued metalcasting research funding and currency manipulation, AFS has identified the expansion of the Family & Medical Leave Act as an issue of immediate importance. The expansion, proposed by Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA), would require employers with 15 or more employees to give full and part-time employees up to seven (7) days of paid sick leave. Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) is expected to introduce the House version of this legislation and Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT) has announced he plans to introduce legislation in the coming weeks to provide as much as six weeks of paid family and medical leave for employees to care for themselves, their children and immediate family members. If this legislation is enacted, U.S. metalcasters would have to alter their benefits packages to include the specified amount of paid time off for all employees. AFS needs to let Congress know that metalcasters do not want their leave policies mandated by the federal government.

AFS calls on you to join us as we present these issues to our Congressional Representatives at the 2007 Governement Affairs Conference. Visit www.afsinc.org/upcoming/pdfs/govaffr07_broch.pdf for more information. The hotel cutoff date is March 1, 2007. Contact the L'Enfant Plaza Hotel today at 202/484-1000 to reserve your room.