Contacting Congress (& Other US Policymakers):

Making Your Voice Heard by US Federal Legislators, the White House, State Legislators and Governors

Version 4.0, Mar. 31, 2002

To find out who your US Senators are (you have two - there are two Senators per state), see the Senators-by-State list at http://www.senate.gov/senators/senator_by_state.cfm. You can also look this information up at the Project Vote-Smart Elected Official Biographical Information Database at http://www.vote-smart.org/ce/. The Senate also provides a directory at http://www.senate.gov/contacting/ with fairly complete contact information.

To find out who your US Representative (a.k.a. Congressman/woman) is in the US House of Representatives (you have just one - there is one Rep. per Congressional district, and each state has many districts) see WriteRep at http://www.house.gov/writerep/, which will allow you to look up your legislator by ZIP code and send them a message. You can do likewise with the form at the top of the House member web site lookup page at http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW.html.

You can also look this information up at the Project Vote-Smart Elected Official Biographical Information Database at http://www.vote-smart.org/ce/.

When looking up by ZIP code, You should use the ZIP+4 format, because short 5-digit ZIP codes often contain more than one Congressional district. If you do not know your complete ZIP+4 code, both WriteRep and Vote-Smart have links to the US Postal Service site, at which you can look up your ZIP+4 quickly, then hit the "back" button on your browser to return to WriteRep or Vote-Smart.) The House site also provide lists of members at http://clerkweb.house.gov/mbrcmtee/members/housemem.htm (this resource will probably move to http://clerkweb.house.gov/107/mbrcmtee/members/housemem.htm in 2002), and links to legislators' own web pages at http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW.html (it's a start, but you should complain to the Office of the Clerk at info.clerkweb@mail.house.gov and urge them to produce a House equivalent of the http://www.senate.gov/contacting/ Senate list.) You can also use WriteRep (see above) for these purposes.

Sometimes it is important to target members of particular Congressional committees as well as your own "home" legislators. To do so, you may need to find out who the committee members are, though a good action alert will include this information. If you need to, you can check the list of House members by committee at http://clerkweb.house.gov/106/mbrcmtee/cmtees/standing/sc.htm (this resource will probably move to http://clerkweb.house.gov/107/mbrcmtee/cmtees/standing/sc.htm in 2002), and the list of Senate members by committee at http://www.senate.gov/activities/cmte-mem.html.

To find out who your State Representative (a.k.a. Assemblyman/woman or Delegate), State Senator(s), Governor and Lt. Governor are, see the Project Vote-Smart State Elected Official Biographical Information Database at http://www.vote-smart.org/ce/s_index/s_index.phtml?category=State+Legislators. Most states also run a state legislature Web server. In the majority of states, you can find this pretty quickly by going to http://www.state.??.us (where "??" is your state's standard two-letter postal abbreviation, e.g. http://www.state.ca.us for California.) In some cases you may have to search for your state's main government home page via search engines. When you find it whichever way, look on this state site (probably under "Government", "Your Government", "State Government" or some similarly-named category) for a link to the state legislature's Web site or subsite, then seek legislator information there.

Finding lists of State Legislature committees can be more challenging. Go to your your state legislature's Web site (see above), then look for committee information.

For federal legislators, you can just call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard (the phone number is (202) 224-3121 locally or toll-free 1-800-962-3524 nationally) and ask for a particular legislator or committee.

A list of Representatives' phone numbers is available from the House Web site at http://clerkweb.house.gov/106/mbrcmtee/members/teledir/members/mcapdir.htm (this resource will probably move to http://clerkweb.house.gov/107/mbrcmtee/members/teledir/members/mcapdir.htm in 2002.) Using http://www.house.gov/writerep/ (WriteRep), you can locate the legislator's home page and get this contact info there, as well.

A list of Senators' phone numbers and other contact info is available from the Senate Web site at http://www.senate.gov/contacting/.

A list of phone numbers for House committees and subcommittees, Senate committees, and joint committees is also available, at http://clerkweb.house.gov/106/mbrcmtee/members/teledir/members/comdir.htm (this resource will probably move to http://clerkweb.house.gov/107/mbrcmtee/members/teledir/members/comdir.htm in 2002.) Some committees also have web pages. House ones are listed at http://www.house.gov/CommitteeWWW.html, and Senate ones have their URLs listed on each committee sub-page of the Senate committee index at http://www.senate.gov/committee/committee.html. The committee web pages may provide additional contact information like special committee fax numbers or e-mail addresses.

Presently, neither the House nor the Senate provide a fax list of legislators, to our knowledge. Many legislators' fax numbers are available from the Project Vote-Smart Elected Official Biographical Information Database at http://www.vote-smart.org/ce/. If that fails, you can look up your Representative's Web page in a list by name at http://www.house.gov/MemberWWW.html, or on an interactive form by your ZIP+4 code at http://www.house.gov/writerep/; and your Senator's Web page by state at http://www.senate.gov/senators/senator_by_state.cfm or by name at http://www.senate.gov/senators/.

If your legislator's fax number is not available via these means, you will have to call his/her office and ask for it. Say that you are a constitutent trying to contact the legislator via fax with your opinions on an issue before Congress. They may refuse to divulge the number - some of the more backward Congressional offices seem to believe that fax machines are only for inter-office use, and not a normal means for the public to contact legislators. If this happens to you, POLITELY express your displeasure at this position, deliver your opinion on the issue via the phone, and then send a postal letter with the full comments you had hoped to fax, closing with a p.s. that you would rather have faxed it, and are disappointed that your legislator's office does not provide a fax number for constitutents to send comments to.

We are always on the lookout for a comprehensive and regularly maintained Congressional fax number list. If you happen to encounter one, please let us know at ren@eff.org.

Phone and fax for the White House:

+1 202 456 1414 (voice; ask for the Comment Line unless you have a specific Executive Branch office already in mind)
+1 202-456-2461 (fax)

You can also look on the White House Web site at http://www.whitehouse.gov/WH/html/handbook.html (look in the "Gateway to Government" right-hand sidebar) for contact info for Cabinet officials, Presidential Advisors, and the like, if the issue you are contacting the White House about is better directed to one of these divisions that to the President or VP's own immediate staff.

State Legislature and Governor contact information is available from the Project Vote-Smart State Elected Official Biographical Information Database at http://www.vote-smart.org/ce/s_index/s_index.phtml?category=State+Legislators. You can also look on your state government's own Web site (see above.)

Because of the post-9/11 security issues, it can take up to THREE MONTHS for postal mail and package delivery services to get through to legislators and their staffs. All incoming mail and parcels are subjected to thorough analysis for bombs, poisons and biological agents like anthrax. This means that sending physical letters is, in 2002 and for the forseeable future, practically useless for activism purposes. The same goes for sending mail to the White House.

The situation is not as bad for Federal agencies, nor for state and municipal government, but even in those cases, fax and e-mail will probably be more efficient and effective. What a turnabout from the 1990s, when most government bodies and legislators more or less ignored e-mail as a valid communications medium!

If you have some special reason to send postal mail, despite the very long delay that will be experienced before it is received, then see the instructions just below.

How to address your letters to Senators:

The Honorable Sen. Full Name Here
United States Senate
Washington DC 20510

and to Representatives:

The Honorable Rep. Full Name Here
United States House of Representatives
Washington DC 20515

To address a House committee:

Name of Committee Here
United States House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515

To address a Senate committee:

Name of Committee Here
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510

No street address or room number is required.

Use the legislator's FULL NAME. Most sessions, there are at least a few Representatives with duplicate surnames.

To address the President:

President Full Name Here
1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Washington, DC 20500

To address State Senators:

The Honorable Sen. Full Name Here
[State name] Senate
[Street address, if necessary] [State capitol] [State abbreviation] [ZIP code]

and to State Representatives/Assembly Members/Delegates:

The Honorable Rep./Assemblyperson/Delegate (whatever term is used in your state) Full Name Here
[State name] House of Representatives/Assembly/Delegation (whatever term is used in your state)
[Street address, if necessary] [State capitol] [State abbreviation] [ZIP code]

You'll note lots of blanks to fill in there. Unfortunately, states are not consistent with eachother on how to address state legislatures. You'll need to look up the relevant details on your state's legislative Web site, or at the Project Vote-Smart site at http://www.vote-smart.org/ce/s_index/s_index.phtml?category=State+Legislators.

Presently, most legislators do not fully take e-mail seriously, but you may wish to e-mail them anyway. It can't hurt, and it doesn't take much time. Also, the more used to e-mail that Congress gets, the more seriously the medium will be taken. The White House, by contrast, already treats e-mail with at least some degree of respect and interest.

Consider e-mailing legislators an afterthought, however, until legislators are "up to speed" (2 years? 5? 10?), - something to do in addition to calling, faxing, writing or visiting.

You can check a list of "public" e-mail addresses and other contact info for Senators, at http://www.senate.gov/contacting, but you will have to contact the offices of any Senators that don't provide an address on this list to see if they will make one available to constituents that ask for it. Same goes for the House, since the House Web site provides not even a partial list as far as we can determine.

You may be able to find your Rep.'s address by contacting the legislator's office or checking out their own Web page. (See "Getting Phone and Fax Numbers", above, for info on contacting these offices or visiting these home pages.) Project Vote-Smart's Elected Official Biographical Information Database at http://www.vote-smart.org/ce/ may also have your legislators' e-mail addresses. Try the ACLU's informative Legislative Scorecard at http://scorecard.aclu.org/, too, which includes address, e-mail, phone, fax, etc., for much of the House and Senate (click on the legislator's name after you look him/her up, to get this contact info), and includes info on how they've voted on civil liberties issues.

You can also use a (free) online service to compose an e-mail (or even a postal letter or fax to print out) to your legislators (federal and state) and the president.

The main congress.org site also allows you to look up state legislators, federal agencies, etc., and contact them.

To e-mail the President or Vice-President:

president@whitehouse.gov

vice.president@whitehouse.gov

http://www.whitehouse.gov/WH/EOP/html/contact_the_whitehouse.html

State Legislature and Governor e-mail addresses for most states will be available from Project Vote-Smart at http://www.vote-smart.org/ce/s_index/s_index.phtml?category=State+Legislators, though some of it may also be available from your state legislature's Web site (see above.)

Visiting your legislator in person shows that you really care about on issue and are very politically active (e.g. the kind of voter that might help campaign for or against the legislator in the next election...) It also lends weight to the issue - if it wasn't vitally important to you, why would you visit in person?

You should call the legislator's office to make an appointment. (See Getting Phone and Fax Numbers, above for info on finding and contacting these offices.) The reception people can tell you the location of the office, though you can also get legislator's office locations from the above phone number lists of US Representatives at http://clerkweb.house.gov/106/mbrcmtee/members/teledir/members/mcapdir.htm (this resource will probably move to http://clerkweb.house.gov/107/mbrcmtee/members/teledir/members/mcapdir.htm in 2002), and of US Senators at http://clerkweb.house.gov/106/mbrcmtee/members/teledir/members/sendir.htm (this resource will probably move to http://clerkweb.house.gov/107/mbrcmtee/members/teledir/members/sendir.htm in 2002.)

For maps and other US Capitol visitor information, see the House's Visitor Information Index at http://www.house.gov/house/Visitor.html.

The Project Vote-Smart site, at http://www.vote-smart.org/ce/s_index/s_index.phtml?category=State+Legislators, should also have office addresses for both federal and state legislatures.

You should be prepared to explain why the issue matters to you AND to everyone - most legislators will probably initially presume you have a financial interest in the outcome of the debate at hand, and may not at first understand that your motives may be quite a bit broader. Show them the public interest at stake.

It may be difficult to get to meet with the legislator him/herself. If it just doesn't seem to be in the cards, try to arrange a meeting with a key staffer such as the technology policy issues staffer. Failing that, try to meet with some other legislative assistant. It is part of the job of these people to ensure that their boss understands his/her constituents' viewpoints, and most of them do a pretty good job at it.

Visiting the President or Vice-President is essentially impossible for the average citizen.

Visiting your Governor or Lt. Governor is nearly as difficult, alas.

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On many issues, your legislators and other elected officials hear very little feedback from their constituents. This is especially true of technological issues such as you are probably interested in if you are reading this.

Being contacted by even a few voters is often enough to mold or shift a policymaker's stance on an issue, especially if they have not had much voter contact on that issue before. Every letter, call and visit counts.

When you contact your legislators, be aware that they and their staffers tend to "rank" communiques based on the format, and based on who you are. This is not always fair or just - isn't an e-mail as serious as a phone call? - but it is a political reality.

In order of MOST to LEAST effective, these are the means of contacting legislators:

1. personal visit to the legislator's Washington DC office or home-state office
2. personally handwritten but LEGIBLE short letter
3. personally typewritten or word-processed letter
4. phone call to a key staffer in the office
5. phone call to the reception staffers in the office
6. personally written fax
7. an obvious form letter or fax
8. personally written e-mail
9. an obvious form e-mail

In order of MOST to LEAST effective, these are the kinds of people who contact legislators

1. government officials
2. constituent organizations or corporations (entities in the legislator' home district/state)
3. individual constituents (voters in the legislator's home district/state)
4. major international, national or regional organizations or corporations
5. little-known international, national or regional orgs. & corps.
6. non-constituent individual Americans
7. foreign individuals, or foreign orgs. & corps.

This may of course vary with the circumstances of the issue at hand, but it's a good rough guide.

• While postal mail and faxes that are obviously form letters are low on the totem pole, action alerts often call for them, as they are easy and fast and can produce a large volume of response on an issue. Even if you are presented with a prepared form letter, however, please instead write your own if you have the time. A form letter/fax is the minimum action you should take.


• Even personally written e-mail that does not look like a form letter is not presently given much weight by most legislators, partly because of unfamiliarity with the medium, and partly because they cannot generally tell whether you are a constituent or not. E-mail should only be sent as an afterthought, a little extra bit of action. And if you ARE a constituent, say so in the first sentence and include your full name, phone number and postal address as "evidence".


• Personal visits are very effective, but take time and effort, and you should be prepared to answer questions. Know what you are talking about. You do NOT need to be an expert, just a reasonably informed and concerned citizen able to articulate your views on the matter you are visiting about - and what you want the legislator to do.


• Phone calls to key staffers (or actual legislators themselves) are usually difficult to arrange. The staffers in charge of answering the phone may be reluctant to put you through to the upper-echelon staffers, unless they know you are representing an organization or corporation. It never hurts to ask. One tactic is to call once and ask for the technology issues staffer's name (for most issues this site is concerned about, you'll be asking for this tech staffer). Then call back later and ask for the staffer by name. Be aware that this staffer is both busy and probably more aware of the issues than the general staff, so you may get either a curt response, or at the other extreme, some detailed questions or opinions. The same generally goes for trying to speak to the legislator personally - it doesn't hurt to ask, but you may have to try several times, and be prepared to give your message very clearly and quickly.


• On certain issues, foreign correspondents may even be received rather coldly. Non-US parties should have an understanding of any international political tensions that may bear on the issue they are thinking of contacting a US legislator about.
  For example, a foreign software company will probably not make a good impression by calling a US Senator about US encryption export restrictions, since the US National Security Agency's main argument is that US economic and military interests depend on keeping strong encryption out of foreign hands. Silly as this position is, some legislators believe it. Foreigners urging relaxation of US export controls will probably have the opposite of the intended effect, unless they focus on the harm that US businesses will suffer due to incompatibilities or inadequate security for international transactions, for example.

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• If you are a constituent, say so. You are a constituent if you are in the US or State Representative's or State Senator's district, or the US Senator's or Governor's state, for example. Legislators pay 10 times more attention to messages from constituents than from non-constituents, because only constituents can vote for (or against) them in the next election!


• If you represent (not the same as "just work for") a corporation or organization, you are better off writing/calling in such a capacity, rather than as a "run of the mill" voter, since legislators tend to perceive organizational communiques as representing a larger set of constituents - or more powerful interests - than individuals' letters/calls, generally speaking. This isn't a particularly pleasant fact, but welcome to the PAC- and lobbyist-infested US political system.


• Refer to legislation (including bills, resolutions and amendments) by number and title. It is also often good to mention the primary sponsor, and the topic of the legislation, as well as whether you think it should be supported or opposed. This can usually be accomplished in one short sentence, e.g. "I am writing to urge you to oppose the "Destroy the Internet Act" (H.R.27189, sponsored by Rep. Yojimbo Doodah), a dangerous piece of unconstitutional censorship legislation." [This is just an example. No such bill exists, though various Net censorship laws are just about as bad.] A good action alert should provide you all of the necessary information to do this, but if it does not, most federal legislation is available (though not always in its most current form) from the Library of Congress legislation Web site, "THOMAS", at http://thomas.loc.gov, searchable by bill number, sponsor, title and keywords. This can be supplemented, at least for House legislation, with information from the House Legislative Processs site at http://www.house.gov/Legproc.html, which provides daily updates on bill amendments and other House action. Some (but less detailed) information on the Senate side is available from the Senate Activities site at http://www.senate.gov/activities/index.html. Many state's legislative Web sites provide similar information (sometimes better, actually) on state bills.
• It is usually a good idea to follow up any letter, fax or e-mail with a phone call.


• State YOUR positition on the issue (even if you "back it up" by noting that a large organization has the same stance). Give reasons (a good action alert should provide enough material to do so.) If the legislator is doing something right, commend them. If they are doing something wrong, don't issue a condemnation of the legislator; instead, firmly but politely ask for their position or actions to change.


• Contact legislators regardless of whether or not their known position is in agreement with your own. If they do agree, your contact serves to support them by letting them know their constituents are behind them. If they do not agree, your contact may help change their minds.


• Silly things to avoid saying when prefacing your comments: "I'm a voter" - of course you are, or you wouldn't be politically active enough to be calling or writing your legislator - and, "I'm a taxpayer" - of course you are; we all are. These phrases are not useful, and most staffers have heard them so many times they'll just roll their eyes and probably lose attention. Instead say, "I'm a constituent", or (if you are) "I'm a supporter of [the legislator's name here]".


• Don't assume that the legislator him/herself will actually read your message. Almost all communications to policymakers are "filtered" through staffers who tally up voters' pro and con opinions on issues. They do this quickly and often simply making assumptions about what you mean if you are not clear.


• Therefore, be very clear about what you mean and what action and/or position you want the legislator to take, and keep it short. It is good to finish your communication with a one-sentence summary that clearly indicates your stance on the issue, what the issue is, and what the legislator should do. E.g., "Please strongly oppose passage of the draconian and anti-democratic "Bill of Rights Repeal Act", S.666, which would strip all Americans of their civil liberties." [Again, this is just an example. But there is some really bad legislation out there.]


• When communicating with legislators and their staffers, or any other government officials, please remember to be POLITE. Rude language and manners, disrespect, accusations, or hostility are likely to cause your message to be completely disregarded as the frothings of a crank. You want to sound self-possessed, confident, reasonable, and alert. NEVER make threats, and do not attempt to e-mailbomb or system-crack government sites, no matter how bad a piece of legislation is. This will likely get you arrested, and will give our/your opposition an excuse to label us all "extremists" to be disregarded. And, of course, don't curse-n-swear at the targets of your letters and calls.


• DO finish your letter with an indication that you would appreciate a direct response or at least the issuance of some kind of statement on the issue, if not a personal reply. You can do this by saying something like "I would appreciate hearing your position on this issue" right after your 1-sentence summary at the end.


• When passing on an e-mailed action alert to other people do not modify it. Especially refrain from removing cut-off date or the contact information of the organization(s) issuing the alert. Avoid modifying in any way an action alert that bears a PGP or other digital signature, as doing so will invalidate the signature. If you want to add some kind of comment, do so at the top, ABOVE any digital signature headers.

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The Electronic Frontier Foundation's digital library includes an Online Activism Archive with a number of useful documents about computer-assisted political advocacy and action.

If you'd like a "digital activist's toolbox", check out the Citizen's Guide to the Net, at http://www.vtw.org/, by the Voters Telecommunications Watch.

If you would like more information on how laws are made and what legislators do, the US House of Representatives has a summary of the process available from their Web site at http://www.house.gov/Tying_it_all.html, as well as a set of links to current bill texts, votes, amendment status, committee jurisidictions and other Congressional data, at http://www.house.gov/Legproc.html.

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