Delegation Discusses Energy Policy With Reps

Washington, DC, March 18, 2011 -- Attracting the largest delegation in the eight-year history of the event, the Carpet and Rug Institute's annual Capitol Hill visit took place March 8-9.

In a day and a half of back-to-back meetings, the group of 11 participants, working in two teams, met with a total of 25 Congressional representatives and staff from Georgia, Tennessee, Louisiana, North Carolina, Alabama, Florida, South Carolina and California, to discuss issues of interest to the carpet industry and the North Georgia region.

Local participants included Werner Braun, Frank Hurd and Jennifer Mendez, CRI; Rick Hooper, Shaw Industries; Joe Foye, Mohawk Industries; Larry Cook, Beaulieu; Peter Bailey, J&J; Brian Anderson, Dalton/Whitfield Chamber of Commerce; Noel Black, Georgia Power; and Jeremy Stroop, Carpet America Recovery Effort.

The Georgia group was joined by Maryland small-business owner Patrick Royster, whose company, Carpet Repair Services of Germantown, Maryland, participates in CRI's Seal of Approval carpet cleaning certification program as a Service Provider.

Participants discussed with lawmakers the need for increased consistency in legislation and a unified energy policy that would enable companies to formulate long-term financial plans.

"Businesses across the U.S. are sitting on their expansion plans; sitting on their new hires, because they don't know what the U.S. Congress is going to do to them next," said CRI President Werner Braun.

"That's a message that hit home with representatives from both sides of the aisle."

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