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Resources for Lobbying Congress
Important phone numbers:
800-828-0498 is the toll free phone number of the Congressional switchboard. Call and ask for your Representative or Senator by name.
202-456-1111 - White House comment line.
202-456-1414 - White House Switchboard.
202-456-2461 - White House FAX.
Find a bill or law on a website maintained by the Library of Congress. http://thomas.loc.gov. For example, you can find:
- HR 508 - Bring the Troops Home and Iraq Sovereignty Restoration Act of 2007 (Woolsey)
- HR 746 - Safe and Orderly Withdrawal From Iraq Act (McGovern)
- HR 455 - Protect the Troops and Bring Them Home Act of 2007 of 2007 (Nadler)
- HR 770 - Iran Nuclear Nonproliferation Act (Lee)
Get a Meeting With Your Legislator:
Call the Legislator's office (D.C. or local, as needed) and ask for the name and contact info of the legislator's scheduler. Next, fax or email a letter requesting a meeting, to the attention of the scheduler. The Washington D.C. offices do not want paper mail. A couple of days after you send the fax or email, call the legislator’s office and confirm his or her receipt of the letter. Senators' contact info is available at http://www.senate.gov and you can find Representative's info at http://www.house.gov.
Think Ahead. If you are willing to invest the time to get a meeting with your legislator, be willing to think through what you hope to accomplish from the meeting and how best to reach your goal.
- On which issue do you want to focus?
- What is your legislator’s position on that issue?
- What do you want your legislator to do after your meeting?
- What is your main message for the meeting?
- Bring a hard copy reference regarding your topic to leave behind.
The ACLU Congressional Score Card http://scorecard.aclu.org provides a summary of civil liberties measures for both Chambers: House and Senate, of the 107th, 108th, 109th and 110th Congress and how your elected officials have voted.
For places to stay in Washington and maps click here.
Suggested Reading
Out of Iraq: A Practical Plan for Withdrawal Now, George McGovern and William R. Polk, Simon & Schuster paperbacks, 2006
Understanding Iraq, William R. Polk, Harper Perennial Edition, 2006
Mission Rejected: U.S. Soldiers Who Say No To Iraq, Peter Laufer, Chelsea Green Publishing Company, 2006
Iraq: The Logic of Withdrawal, Anthony Arnove, The New Press 2006
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