{"id":21281,"date":"2025-02-08T12:53:57","date_gmt":"2025-02-08T20:53:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/jed\/?p=21281"},"modified":"2025-02-08T12:53:57","modified_gmt":"2025-02-08T20:53:57","slug":"tips-for-contacting-members-of-congress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/jed\/2025\/02\/08\/tips-for-contacting-members-of-congress\/","title":{"rendered":"Tips for contacting members of Congress"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

Another friend\u2019s recommendations about contacting members of Congress. (Copied and pasted with permission.)<\/p>\r\n

\r\n

Pro-tips for calling your MoCs, for those just now thinking of getting started:<\/p>\r\n

    \r\n
  1. Have your MoCs' numbers in your phone. I have a DC & district office # for each, in case I have trouble getting through on one.<\/li>\r\n
  2. As much as possible, call with an ask that's specific, immediate, & actionable, e.g. vote yes\/no on this bill\/nominee. It\u2019s also worthwhile to call after an action to express thanks or disappointment.<\/li>\r\n
  3. If you hate talking to strangers on the phone, call before 9 am & leave a voicemail.<\/li>\r\n
  4. Or send a postcard, especially for thanks\/disappointment, or when the time horizon is more like a week than RIGHT NOW. All the tips below apply to both media.<\/li>\r\n
  5. Start by saying your name, that you're a constituent, & giving your town & ZIP, \u00b1 email or mailing address if you want a reply.<\/li>\r\n
  6. Then state your ask clearly & succinctly (\"I'm asking the senator to vote yes\/no on _<\/cite>\"; \"I'm concerned about <\/cite>__\"; \"I want to thank the senator for... \"). That's all you really need to say; if you're talking to a staffer, that may be all they let you say.<\/li>\r\n
  7. If you want to say more, don't stress out about trying to find the perfect words. No matter how eloquent or bumbling your explanation of your position, a staffer is going to reduce it to a couple of words or a tally mark.<\/li>\r\n
  8. YES, you should call Democratic MoCs. Don't assume that they'll do (what you consider) the right thing without support\/pressure from their constituents! Since the 2024 election, many Democratic lawmakers are afraid & in appeasement mode, esp. when it comes to issues related to immigration, trans rights, & DEI.<\/li>\r\n
  9. This doesn't have to be a big production! I make calls while making breakfast; I usually budget about 90 seconds for each voicemail.<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45,134],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","category-resistance"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/jed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/jed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/jed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/jed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/jed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21281"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/jed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21281\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21282,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/jed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21281\/revisions\/21282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/jed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/jed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/jed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}