Capitol Hill Basics
Communication Tips | Visiting Capitol Hill | Congressional Staff
| Legislative Process |

COMMUNICATION TIPS

• Be Credible
• Be Convincing
• Be Clear
• Be Concise
• Be Consistent
• Be Creative
• Be Committed
• Build Coalitions
• Celebrate Victories

When Calling:

You can always reach your Senators’ and Representative’s offices by calling the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121.  Identify yourself as a constituent and as a member of your coalition.  Ask to speak with the Legislative Assistant (L.A.) who handles the issue you wish to comment on.  If you are calling concerning appropriations, be sure to mention that.  Often a different L.A. will handle appropriations matters, than the L.A. who handles other legislation on the same topic area.  Tell the L.A. why you are calling and read the "Here’s the Message” points from the CADCA legislative alert on the issue you are calling about.  You may request a written response to your call, if you receive one, please send a copy to CADCA.

When Writing and Faxing:

*Note: Since September 11, 2001, Congressional Members are not receiving mail on a regular basis. It is much better to write a letter and fax it to your Member, before mailing them the hard copy. Call CADCA's Public Policy staff if you need your Member of Congress' or Senators' fax number.

Writing is the preferable way to voice your constituent opinion to your elected officials; however, it is not the timeliest.  When an issue is not urgent, a letter is a very efficient way to communicate, and it usually generates a written response from your Representative or Senators.  See a CADCA sample letter to get an idea on how to format your letter.  You want to state your position clearly and concisely.  Our sample letters also have the proper salutations and correct addresses for Members of Congress, as well as the ONDCP director, President, and Vice President.  As always, please send CADCA a copy of the letter you send to your Representative or Senator, as well as any response you receive from them.

When E-mailing:

You are able to e-mail your Representative and Senators from our website.  Your e-mail should be just as formal as a written letter, it just arrives there faster.  Follow the above instructions in structuring your e-mail and see CADCA sample letters for ideas.

*Note: Email is not the most efficient way to reach your Representative or Senators. Faxing is the most effective method, as a hardcopy of the letter will be printed, and a member of their staff will need to respond to your fax.

VISITING CAPITOL HILL

Lobbying Do's and Don'ts

Do

• Identify yourself and who you represent initially on each contact. Legislators meet hundreds of people and can't remember everyone they encounter.
• Know the issue and the status of the legislation. Refer to the legislation by number.
• Know your legislator. Have some idea of his/her position on the issue, past votes on similar legislation as well as legislative and personal interests can help you to tailor your arguments. (Here your state organization can be particularly helpful.)
• Be brief. (Legislators are very busy.)
• Be specific and practical. Relate arguments to situations in the legislator’s home district.
• Thank legislators.
• Keep the door open for further discussion, even if you don't agree at this time. "Politics make strange bedfellows" is not without foundation.
• Talk with legislators even if their positions are opposite yours.
• Think of yourself as a consultant to a legislator. You have expertise and insights that help the legislators understand the bill.
• Be honest. Never lie. Acknowledge opposing arguments and any political liabilities.
• Ask the legislator for support.
• Leave behind a one-page fact sheet summarizing your position. Highlight important facts and arguments. Include your name, address and telephone number so you can be reached if there are questions.

Don't

• Back legislators into a corner.
• Overwhelm them with too much information or jargon.
• Get into lengthy arguments.
• Be afraid to say you don't know. Offer to find out and send the information back.
• Confront, threaten, pressure or beg.
• Expect legislators to be specialists. Their schedules and the number of bills they track make them generalists.
• Ask the impossible...often.

Meeting with Your Representative or Senator

Personal meetings with policy makers are among the most powerful opportunities to make the case for substance abuse prevention and treatment. Lawmakers need to hear from constituents and experts that prevention and treatment are more effective and economical than law enforcement and incarceration, as strategies to address a wide range of community health and safety problems. You can help by reinforcing this message on the local level, including examples and factual information during meetings with your Representative or Senator.

Meeting with a legislator presents particular advocacy challenges. Generally, members of Congress are charismatic and charming people, eager to hear the views of their constituents. However, their purpose while meeting may be different from yours. You will want him/her to act, or make a commitment in support of your goals. On the other hand, the member may be inclined to avoid controversy and balk at making a clear commitment to you. Expect ambiguity, but don't give up.

BEFORE THE MEETING

KNOW YOUR LEGISLATOR

Be prepared to appeal to his/her personal, professional, and legislative concerns. For starters, learn something about the district and the member's election record. How did he/she vote on other prevention and treatment issues? On similar issues? What personal information may be useful? Both the Almanac of American Politics (National Journal) and Politics in American (Congressional Quarterly), available at major libraries, provide useful background information on members of Congress. You can also use CADCA's CapWiz system to determine how your members have voted on key issues. Talk to friends who may know the lawmaker and his/her interests. Use this information to develop a realistic sense of what you can expect to accomplish during the meeting.

PLAN AHEAD

Find out about the member's home schedule, and make an appointment for your coalition to meet with your representative when he/she is at home. Be sure to tell the scheduler the purpose of the meeting. Send (or fax) the office brief, summary information and a list of people who will attend the meeting. In addition, find out if the congressperson conducts "town hall" meetings. At those gatherings, you can raise your concerns in public, perhaps with the media present.

SPEAK WITH A UNIFIED VOICE

Recruit leaders from local coalitions, VIP's, and articulate program participants and alumni who know the value of the programs to attend the meeting. Plan and decide your strategy with participants well in advance of he meeting. Designate a facilitator and a note taker who will record everything the member says during the meeting.

DURING THE MEETING

HAVE CLEAR, LIMITED GOALS

Keep the discussion to one message and one or two main points. Be specific about what you want the lawmaker to do. Repeat your message in as many different ways as possible

PROVIDE SUCCINCT WRITTEN MATERIALS AND HELPFUL VISUAL AIDS

Focus on how prevention and treatment programs meet critical community needs. Point to success stories and to programs that have generated productive citizens and saved taxpayer expenditures. Demonstrate: that prevention and treatment programs save money; that treatment and prevention programs work; and that much of the community relies on the prevention and treatment services that your program provides. Invite the congressperson to make a personal visit.

MAKE THE MOST OF ANY OPPORTUNITY FOR SMALL TALK

Use introductions strategically to create a personal rapport and relationship. Use your knowledge of the member's background to develop common ground.

AFTER THE MEETING

What you do after the meeting can be just as important as the meeting itself.  Follow-up and persistence will be necessary to achieve your goals.

EVALUATE THE MEETING

Immediately following, discuss what happened at the meeting. Were your goals accomplished? Why/why not? What commitments did the member make, if any? What follow-up is required? Did you promise to provide additional information? What points were best communicated during the meeting? Which were weakest? A written summary prepared by the note taker and distributed to meeting participants will be a helpful tool for follow-up, and ongoing advocacy efforts.

SEND A THANK YOU LETTER

Be gracious and polite, even if your meeting doesn't go well. Include in your letter any information you promised to provide the member. Restate your concerns and what you want. Suggest how the member can help you, even if he/she does not entirely support your position. Remind him/her about the consequences of his/her position; who will be helped or hurt by his/her vote.

LET YOUR NATIONAL NETWORKS KNOW WHAT HAPPENED

Please send a written summary of your meeting immediately to CADCA’s Public Policy Team by fax or e-mail (fax: 703-706-0565; e-mail: klieupo@cadca.org). Be sure to point out the member's bottom-line position, if any. Was a commitment made: Does he/she want/need additional information? Did you have any particular problems communicating your message? What concerns did the member raise during the meeting?

Sample Agenda for Congressional Meetings

1. Designate one person to be the primary spokesperson for the meeting.

2. Be brief with your introductions.

3. Discuss the major accomplishments of your program—highlight outcomes, key groups involved, and number of volunteers.

4. Use the Facts to Know and Use below, as well as CADCA Legislative Alerts to educate your member about legislative priorities for the 110^th Congress. 

5. Mention that CADCA represents your coalition in Washington, DC.

6. Ask how you can continue a working relationship with the member and his/her staff on alcohol and drug abuse issues.

Materials to Leave with Members or Staffers

1. A one-pager describing your coalition/program. This document should highlight successful and innovative programs.
2. Sample publications, posters, t-shirts from your group.
3. Relevant CADCA Legislative Alerts

Facts to Know and Use

Substance Abuse is Perceived as a Much Greater Problem Nationally than at the Community Level

• Between 1994 and 2000, there was a 43% increase in the percentage of Americans who felt progress was being made in the war on drugs at the community level (PEW)
• Only 9% of Americans say drug abuse is a "crisis" in their neighborhood, compared to 27% who say this about the nation (PEW)
• The percentage of those who felt we lost ground in the war on drugs on a community level fell by more than a quarter, from 51% in 1994 to 37% in 2000 (PEW)

Substance Abuse Prevention Works

• Students in grades 6 - 8 have reduced their annual use of both cigarettes and any alcohol from 1996-97 to 2000-01 by 12.7% and 8.2%, respectively (PRIDE)
• For persons aged 12 and older, the perceived risks of smoking one or more packs of cigarettes per day and binge drinking increased between 1999 and 2000, by 2.6% and 2% respectively (NHS)
• Youth ages 12-13 reported significantly lower rate of current use of any illicit drug, from 3.9% in 1999 to 3.0% in 2000 (NHS)
• In 10 years, since 1991, any lifetime alcohol use among 8^th graders has decreased from 70.1% to 50.5% in 2001 (MTF)
• In 1997, only 33.8% of 12^th graders perceived trying Ecstasy once or twice to be harmful in the long-term.  In 2001, 45.7% of 12^th think it harmful, an 11.9% increase (MTF)
• On average students whose peers had little or no involvement with drinking or drugs scored 18 points higher in the reading portion of the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) test and 45 points higher on the math section.  The differences are as large as the average differences between students scoring below the standard (level 2) and those meeting the standard level (3) (WA)

Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Are Good Investments

• Every dollar spent on drug abuse prevention yields a $15 savings-savings include reduced health care costs, law enforcement, other social and welfare services, and increased productivity (Kim et al)
• Every dollar spent on treatment leads to a $7.46 reduction in crime-related spending and lost productivity (Rand)
• Young people who begin drinking before the age of 15 are four times more likely to develop alcohol dependence than those who began drinking at age 21. Overall, the risk for alcohol dependence decreases by 14 percent with each increasing year of age of drinking onset (NIAAA)
• In the next 15 years, the youth population will grow by 21%, adding 6.5 million youth— even if drug use rates remain constant, there will be a huge surge in drug-related problems, such as drug-related violence, HIV incidence and academic failure, simply due to this population increase (CSAP)

Sources

PEW - Study findings sponsored by The Pew Charitable Trusts 2001; PRIDE - Parents’ Resource Institute for Drug Education, National Summary 2000-01; PATS - Partnership Attitude Tracking Study 1999; NHS - National Household Survey 2000; MTF - Monitoring the Future Study 2001; WA - Washington Kids Count/University of Washington, 2000; Kim et al - "Benefit -Cost Analysis of Drug Abuse Prevention Programs: A Macroscopic Approach” 1995; Rand - Rand Corporation, Controlling Cocaine:  Supply Versus Demand Programs, Drug Policy Research, 1994.  NIAAA - National Institute on Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse, News Release 1998; CSAP - Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, FY 2001 DHHS Request 2000

CONGRESSIONAL STAFF

Many times, you will want to speak with Legislative Assistants (L.A.s), as different staffers handle different issues.  When calling, ask to speak to the L.A. who handles the issue you wish to comment on.  If you are calling concerning an appropriations matter, mention that.  Often a different L.A. will handle appropriations issues related to substance abuse, other than the L.A. who handles general substance abuse matters. 

THE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS

Steps in the Legislative Process

(Note: All appropriations bills must originate in the House -- other legislation can originate in either the House or Senate. This example has the bill originating in the House.)

Step One
Bill is introduced.

Step Two
Bill is assigned to a committee for consideration.

Step Three
A sub-committee of the full committee considers the bill, marks it up (e.g. considers amendments) and reports it out, by majority vote of the subcommittee members. (In some cases a bill skips this step and is considered directly by the full committee.)

Step Four
The full committee considers the bill, marks it up and reports it out, by majority vote of the full committee members.

Step Five
Bill goes to the House Floor for a vote by all members. Members can offer amendments on the Floor to change the bill.  A majority vote passes or rejects the amendments.  Any amendments that pass become part of the bill.  A final majority vote passes or fails to pass the bill.

Step Six
The bill is sent to the Senate, where it must go through steps 2 through 5 as outlined above, in the Senate.

Step Seven
After both houses of Congress pass their versions of the bill, a Conference Committee is appointed (made up of members of the House and Senate Committees that considered the bill) to resolve the differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill.

Step Eight
The Conference Committee reports out a compromise bill which goes back to the Floors of both the House and the Senate for consideration.

Step Nine
After passage of the Conference bill, in identical form by both the House and the Senate, the bill goes to the President for his consideration. The president either signs or vetoes the bill.

Step Ten
Congress can override a Presidential veto by a 2/3 vote of both houses.