Delta Grassroots Caucus Events

Credit Michael Hibblen/ KUAR News, Arkansas Public Radio; Former President Bill Clinton speaking to the Delta Grassroots Caucus on May 2, 2013, at the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service, Little Rock

U. S. Senator John Boozman, Arkansas, at a Delta Grassroots Caucus meeting at the US Capitol

Brad Cole, Executive Director of the Municipal League of Illinois; previously a senior aide to former Republican US Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois, earlier Mayor of Carbondale, Illinois, veteran Delta regional advocate, speaking at the Delta regional conference in West Memphis, Arkansas on April 26, 2019.

President Bill Clinton makes a comment to Delta Caucus Director Lee Powell at a meeting in Blytheville, Arkansas (in the northeast Arkansas Delta) on Nov. 2, 2014

The Delta Caucus would like to pay tribute to the late, great U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi, a powerful force in the US Senate for decades and a champion for the Delta. Sen. Cochran passed away on May 30, 2019. He spoke to the Delta Caucus on many occasions over the years (he is pictured above speaking to a Caucus event on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC) and his thoughtful, courteous and bipartisan leadership will be sorely missed.

Marcie Lawson, Executive Director, Sikeston, Missouri Regional Chamber and Area Economic Development Corporation, speaking at the Delta regional conference in West Memphis, Arkansas on April 26, 2019.

Alan Gumbel, Greater Memphis Alliance for a Competitive Workforce, Memphis, Tennessee, speaking at the Delta regional conference in West Memphis, Arkansas on April 26, 2019.

Mayor Shirley Washington of Pine Bluff, AR, speaking to the Delta Caucus at the Arkansas Capitol Rotunda in 2017.

Group Hotel Deadline for DC Conference is This Friday, Sept. 3; Turnout now at 104

Posted on August 30, 2010 at 11:06 AM

GROUP HOTEL DEADLINE IS THIS WEEK, BY FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, CLOSE OF BUSINESS, 4 p.m. central time; Radisson at Reagan Airport, phone is (703) 920-8600.

We have learned that many of the participants at the conference have forgotten or not gotten around yet to making their group hotel reservations. The deadline is now upon us THIS WEEK ON FRIDAY, SEPT. 3, and there are advantages to staying at the group hotel, so please make your hotel reservations ASAP. It is natural that many people do things at the last minute so this is just a reminder of the deadline.

We have 11 Members of Congress, the new leadership of the Delta Regional Authority, executive branch officials, and the turnout from Delta Caucus partners is now at 104 people, so this is an event you would not want to miss. We need to urge more action on job creation/economic recovery from the recession, health care for underserved areas, oppose FEMA’s plan to escalate flood insurance costs, support the Delta Regional Authority’s new excellent leaders, aid for victims of Hurricane Katrina and the oil disaster in the Gulf, and focus on key broadband, renewable energy, rural development and nutrition issues.

Confirmed Members of Congress include Sen. Claire McCaskill (MO), Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (MO), Sen. Blanche Lincoln (AR), Sen. Mark Pryor (AR), Rep. Mike Ross (AR), Rep. Marion Berry (AR), Rep. John Boozman (AR), Rep. Charlie Melancon (LA), Rep. Joseph Cao (LA), Sen. Mary Landrieuu (LA), Sen. Thad Cochran (MS), with Rep. Jerry Costello (IL), Rep. Bennie Thompson (MS), Rep. Steve Cohen (TN), invited. Delta Regional Authority Federal Cochairman Chris Masingill and Alternate Federal Cochair Mike Marshall of Missouri are among the key speakers, experts on the oil disaster and Katrina, health care, broadband, rural development, nutrition, renewable energy and other key issues.

GROUP HOTEL: We were able to get a reduction in the Radisson Reagan Airport rate to $215, which is a good rate for a DC hotel that is a short taxi ride from the meeting rooms at the very busy time of year of September. After September 3, there will likely not be any vacancies, or if there are they will be much more expensive.

You would call the Radisson Reagan Airport at (703) 920-8600 and say you are with the Delta Caucus group to get the reduced rate for the nights of Sept. 21 and Sept. 22. We will have groups of taxi cabs to depart from the Radisson each day of the conference, and this is the best way to get there.

There are no meetings at the group hotel so if you would prefer to stay elsewhere that is okay, but please make your travel arrangements ASAP.

However, there are networking and organizational advantages to staying at the group hotel. People often have informal meetings with many others from the region who stay there. It is also advantageous to go to the meetings in a group of taxi cabs that we hire to go from the hotel to the Capitol Hill meeting sites.

If you go in a group of three or four in a taxi cab, you will get a reduced rate and will also get there in the fastest way.

If you only wish to go to the first two days of the conference, you would only have to pay for one hotel night. You would stay for the night of Sept. 21, Tuesday, then check out in the morning on Sept. 22, store your baggage, go to the meetings that day and come back to the hotel in the late afternoon to pick up your luggage, and take a flight home in the early evening of Sept. 22.

TRAVEL CONSULTANTS: If you would like help in finding cheaper airfare, please contact Travel Consultants International, Becky Hawkins’ excellent travel agency in Blytheville, Arkansas at (870) 762-2800 or becky@travelconsultantsintl.com

Thanks. Lee Powell, executive director, Delta Grassroots Caucus (202) 360-6347