Legislative Work
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How to Set up and Prepare for a Congressional Visit

Your first step should be to do some research about your representative or senators. Useful resources for this are www.congress.org, www.house.gov, www.senate.gov, and thomas.loc.gov. These sites provide you with contact information and web pages for members of Congress. With a little work, you should be able to find biographical information, committee and subcommittee assignments, and key issues of concern for your member of Congress. Review your legislator's voting record and any publicly stated views or opinions. Learn who does staff work on the issues that concern you most. These are the people who answer your letters and brief/advise their boss on pending issues. These people are a very important resource but are often overlooked.

Setting up a Congressional Visit
Before you arrange for a meeting, prepare to talk about your issue. If you have a good command of your subject, it will be easier to engage the attention of the people you are talking to. If you're calling for an appointment, they may ask you questions about your issue so that they can begin to prepare for the meeting.

It is always best to set up an appointment with a congressional office rather than simply attempting to show up. Although a congressperson will sometimes meet with a constituent or group from the district with less advance notice, to get a meeting with your member of Congress in Washington, D.C., you normally need to arrange it at least 6-8 weeks before you plan to visit.

If you are setting up a meeting with less advance notice, you will likely meet with a congressional staffer - the person responsible for tracking a specific issue and advising the congressperson on how to vote. These meetings are almost as valuable as meeting with the member of Congress, and should not be dismissed as second best. In the majority of cases, the staffer's opinion will be the position taken by the member of Congress. For most issues relating to Guatemala, you will want to meet with the legislative aide on foreign policy or human rights issues. Usually that person will be based in Washington D.C., but there will also be an aide in the local office who can meet with you.

You have the option of meeting with your legislators in either their local or Washington, D.C., offices. Locally, seek appointments during congressional recess periods (around holidays) when your member returns to your district. For an appointment at the Washington office, keep in mind that most legislative business occurs Tuesday through Thursday and that the closing days of a session are extra busy.

You can often make plans to visit the Washington office through the local office. Otherwise, contact the national office and ask the office scheduler to arrange the meeting.

Making the Appointment
Phone numbers for congressional offices may be found at www.senate.gov or www.house.gov, or you may call the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask to be connected to your representative or senator. Local offices can be found in your phonebook.

• When you initiate the call, introduce yourself as a constituent, and mention that you are interested in discussing how you are being represented.

• Explain what you would like to discuss and let the office determine who it would be best for you to meet with if it won't be your member.

• Be flexible and accommodating of your member's (or staff person's) schedule.

• If someone in your group knows the legislator personally or professionally, make sure that the scheduler is aware of the relationship.

• Getting a meeting with a member of Congress can sometimes be a long and arduous process with staffers giving you the run-around. If you feel you must meet with your representative (rather than a staffer), be polite but persistent. Don't give up, even if you are told the member has no time to meet with your delegation. Polite persistence does pay off in the long run; in most cases, you will eventually be able to sit down with your representative.

• After you schedule a meeting, send a confirmation letter that includes a list of those who will attend the meeting.

• When you arrive in Washington, call the member's office to confirm your appointment.

  Showing Up
  If you are unable to set up a meeting ahead of time, you may stop by the office and ask for "just a moment of the foreign policy aide's time." If you are from the district, be sure to let them know. If the aide is unavailable, offer to leave behind some note or supporting information for why you came to visit. It is always a good idea to follow up with a phone call or email.

  Preparing for a Meeting

• Make sure everyone in your group is prepared. You may want to provide group members with relevant written materials.
  
  

• Your group should be clear on the issues to be discussed, the requests to be made, and how a congressional meeting should be run before the meeting. Be sure everyone agrees on the central message and what will be asked of the legislator.

• Organize a preparatory meeting beforehand. Decide who will discuss what and in what order participants will speak. It's helpful to have different members talk about different aspects of the subject so the member or staffer can see the breadth of the coalition.

• Know the counter-arguments. Be ready to respectfully answer any questions or disagreements. However, keep in mind that the purpose of the visit is not to have a debate. Also be careful not to get so caught up in the details that the overall message gets lost.

• Prepare an information packet to leave with your legislator. You don't want to inundate an office with information, but it's a good idea to bring printed information on who you are (we recommend this include information on NISGUA as well as your local group) and on your position. Brochures, fact sheets, and pamphlets are the best ideas.

• Write out talking points in advance. Talking points are the key reasons and supporting evidence for why you believe in a policy. They should be concise - no more than a few sentences per point. You can use these as a reference for yourself, and even leave them behind for the aide if the person seems particularly interested.