Last week, we asked for your help as an important fundraising deadline approached. I was humbled by your response and I want to extend my personal and sincere gratitude.

Your assistance last week will help to strengthen our Democratic majority in the Senate. It will also help to ensure that I continue to serve the people of Iowa as Chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, where I am currently drafting the 2007 Farm Bill, one of many important measures that make a difference for our state and its citizens.

Having a Democratic majority in the Senate also preserves my role as the Chair of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, where we fund essential health, education, and job training initiatives for working families throughout our country.

In the recent months, I’ve been working very hard to require the president to support an expansion of stem cell research and to close the detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay. Most importantly, I’ve continued to work with my Democratic colleagues in an effort to begin the process of withdrawing our troops from the civil war in Iraq while ensuring that our troops find the care and support they need when they return home.

I promise that I will do everything that I can do in the Senate to earn your support. I will continue to fight for our priorities, because I refuse to wait for this president’s successor to solve problems that need to be solved today.

Thank you, once again, for your continued support and generosity.

With sincere gratitude,

-Tom Harkin