Scouting's Friends on Capitol Hill

Requirement 8 of the Citizenship in the Nation merit badge asks boys to write a letter about an important issue to their U.S. congressperson.

Just think of it - thousands of Boy Scouts each year send these letters to elected officials (in fact, over a dozen letters were sent to congress by Scouts at Camp Minsi last week). You may think these individuals could care less about a letter written by a boy working on an Eagle-required merit badge, right? Think again. Scouting's status in Washington, D.C., has always been strong, and that continues in 2009.

Some new research by the BSA reveals that nearly 41 percent of the members of the U.S. Congress have some type of Scouting involvement. That means that we Scouters have friends in some pretty high places.

In all, 47 different states are represented on this new list, available here. Check it out and see if your local Senator or Representative is there.

You'll find both Republicans and Democrats on the list, and you'll see that some were involved as youth, some as volunteer leaders, and some as both. You'll even see a special column indicating if the congressman is an Eagle Scout. A grand total of 219 of the 535 Senators and Representatives of the 111th Congress are on that list —pretty impressive indeed.