The House of Representatives have cut funding from Obama's Partnership for Sustainable Communities program. The program has been targeted for elimination from the House FY 2012 spending bill.

Defunding Sustainable Development has also come through a Department of Transportation bill, a draft of which completely eliminates funding for what are called TIGER grants, which provides funding for the largest grants through the Partnership for Sustainable Communities program.

This is great news for those of us opposed to Sustainable Development. It means less money and fewer weapons coming out of Washington, DC to enforce this assault on property rights and America's way of life.

Now the spending bill is moving to the Senate - the danger zone. Sustainablists are planning a major push to get the Senate to replace the appropriations for the Sustainable Communities budget. The American Planning Association (APA) is leading the charge, calling for massive pressure to be put on Senators in what the APA is calling "Planners Day," set for September 20th.

The APA's message to the Senators is that the cuts "ignores both our nation's jobs crisis and the drastic need for infrastructure investment." In fact, the House action is not only fiscally responsible in a day when the government is completely broke, but it is a lie that the program will help either jobs or infrastructure. The exact opposite is true. Sustainable Development is a jobs killer and it destroys infrastructure - refusing to build roads, tearing down dams and the like.

We can strike a huge blow against Sustainable Development.

Action to take:

On September 20th, call both of your U.S. Senators and demand that they maintain the House restrictions on the sustainability planning grants and the caps on planning expenses now called for in the Fiscal Year spending bill. Tell them America cannot afford these grants. The cuts will save billions of dollars and keep special interests out of your community's planning decisions. Tell them you oppose Sustainable Development.

The Senate switchboard is (202) 224-3121

Make the calls and counter the impact of one of the nation's most powerful forces behind Sustainable Development (APA). Win this fight and we will show that we are now strong enough to turn the tide away from top down control and soviet-style government - and towards freedom!

If you have a chance, call your Representative in the House and thank them for standing firm against this Sustainable Development monster. And ask them to continue to stand firm if the final bill goes to a conference committee. Defund Sustainable Development and strike a blow for fiscal sanity and freedom.

Cathy Turner

Virginia property rights activist