Arranging Meetings with Policymakers and Their Staff

Sections on this page:

A Justification for your Visits

Let's start with some survey data from the Congressional Management Foundation's report Citizen-Centric Advocacy: The Untapped Power of Constituent Engagement:

Citizen-Centric Advocacy: The Untapped Power of Constituent Engagement:

You will quickly note that constituent visits are by far the most "very effective" type of advocacy. For our immediate purposes, these data indicate that you are going to be much more effective in getting a meetingwith your elected representatives and/or their staff than we here at the AAS Executive Office (we fall under the category of "Visit From a Lobbyist"). For more information, refer to our Advocacy Resource: Why Should You Advocate for Your Science?

We will provide support as needed and serve as the master schedule coordinators since most/all of your meetings will take place with 2-3 other members of our team. But we strongly prefer you to initiate your own meeting requests. Having you get a "yes" commitment out of the scheduler or staff member is our most effective strategy for optimizing your trip to Washington, DC. In addition, scheduling your own meetings will provide you with the necessary tools for continued advocacy, which will help you establish relationships with members and staff independent of the AAS.

It is best to begin requesting meetings with Members of Congress and/or their staff one month out from your scheduled visit, if possible, especially since our event is during a busy season for constituent meetings. 

Step 1: Figure out who to contact

You will need to find the contact information for that office and identify the person you are going to meet with. Your options are a staff member (Step 1a) or the member of Congress (Step 1b).

Enter your registered voting address into a Congressional contact database, for examples refer to our Contacting Congress web page, to get the contact information for your House Representative and Senators. Another option is to find your Representative's and Senators' websites.

Step 1a: Identify the correct Staff Member—You Want the Person Responsible for Science/Space Issues

Our preference is to start here, but if you want to try to meet with the members themselves, go for it and refer to step 1b! Note that this script is written as if you are going to represent AAS; you could easily substitute another affiliation or list none at all.

Identifying the correct staff member requires making a phone call or sending an email; some offices will require you to submit a web form to establish contact or request a meeting. Regardless of how you are making contact, the content of this initial message is the same:

You are a constituent in <city/town/state> and you will be in Washington, DC on DATE to represent the American Astronomical Society. You would like to schedule a meeting with the staffer who covers science and space science topics. 

Note for CVD participants: you want to talk to the staffer who covers science and/or space topics. Most of the time one staffer will cover both areas, but if they are split between two people you should make it clear that you are interested in space science (as opposed to defense uses, etc.) to help identify the right person. 

Please also note that the person who is reading/hearing this message is likely an intern. They will either refer your message to the appropriate staffer, who should then respond directly to you, or they will give you the name/contact information for the appropriate staffer, whom you should then contact directly. Either option will take you to step 2.

The referral process can take up to 3-4 business days. We have access to other resources if you are having trouble, so let us know if you are worried that this step is taking too long.

Step 1b: Meeting with a Member of Congress—Go Through Their Scheduler

For meetings with members, rather than staff, it is best to call the main office and ask for the member's scheduler, taking note of his/her name. When you reach the scheduler, he/she may ask you to submit a meeting request through the website. Make sure that you have the right URL for the request form. Keep in mind that members are inundated with email, so your request may not receive immediate attention. Call the scheduler back if you do not get a response to your email within a week.  

Step 2: Requesting a Meeting

Whether you're requesting a meeting with a staffer or with the member of Congress, your meeting request should include the following information:

  • You are constituent residing in <city/town/state> and you are going to be in Washington, DC, on DATE to represent the American Astronomical Society.
  • You are writing/calling to request a 30 minute meeting with the member/staffer to discuss the importance of Federal support for your <research/education/etc.> as a <professor/scientist/postdoctoral fellow/graduate student> at <institution/company>. 
  • You should note at the end that you will be accompanied by 2-3 other members of the AAS who are not constituents since you are visiting the Hill as a team.
  • Note that this script is written as if you are going to represent AAS; you could easily substitute another affiliation or list none at all.

This message should be quite short; you do not need to provide any additional information at this point.

CVD Participants: Before you schedule your meeting, refer to your team's schedule on the spreadsheet. Remember that the House and Senate are on opposite sides of Capitol Hill and they require you to go through security upon entry, so it's best to plan at least 30 minutes travel time between the two sides of the Hill. The simplest thing to do is try to schedule all your House meetings in the morning and Senate meetings in the afternoon or vice versa.

Step 3: Following up

In most cases, finalizing a meeting will require multiple follow-up calls/emails up to and including your planned meeting date. This is life on Capitol Hill, and you should be ready to roll with it to have a stress free and successful day. AAS can step in to help more after the initial contact to help confirm meetings if you are having trouble, but you will need to let us know and make sure that you copy [email protected] on all e-mail exchanges you have with the staffer(s).

CVD Participants: We are here as a resource for you as you schedule your meetings, so please do your best to keep us up to date on any scheduling developments by email. We will keep track of the master schedule (see the invitation in your email) so we can all see the progress we're making as a team. You are grouped such that we have a range of career stages in each team, but teams may have to be somewhat fluid depending on the availability of members and staff. In theory, a team of 3-4 people could have as many as 9-12 meetings, though it's unlikely we'll be quite that busy.

FAQ

  • I have a meeting now; what kind of prep work can I do?

Develop a story for why they should care about the things that you care about. AAAS summarizes this in their Guide for Working with Congress,

Tell a story, use examples and imagery, and strike a balance: don’t be too technical, but don’t talk down to your audience either. Avoid jargon. Be relevant. Make analogies to other important issues that, based on your intelligence gathering, might be important or familiar to the members and the chairperson.

Making the right analogies requires knowing a bit about the member of Congress and the district/state.

Peruse the member of Congress's website a bit. What committees are they on? Are they a part of any caucus? What topics have they made statements on? What kind of legislation have they introduced or co-sponsored? Also check the information included on websites like Library of Congress (congress.gov) Wikipedia, and GovTrack for more information on your member of Congress.

Understand your district/state a little more. Who's the biggest employer? What are the main industries? How much federal funding does your state get and from what agencies? The National Science Board's Science & Engineering State Indicators can be helpful.

  • I called my representative/senator's office and was asked to submit my request via their web form. What should I do?

Some members have a specific protocol they prefer to follow for meetings requests. Definitely follow up via the web form, but you should also follow up by phone if you do not hear back for more than a few days to a week (depending on how close we are to visit time) after submitting your request. If you are still having trouble after multiple attempts, let us know and we will see if there's anything we can do to help you get a hold of the relevant staffers.

  • Two Congressional offices have responded with meeting times that overlap for our team. How should we deal with this?

I suggest you fill in your schedule on a first-come-first-served basis. You are the constituent, i.e., it is your vote the office would like. You should feel comfortable asking for a different time to avoid overlap. If both requests come in around the same time, coordinate with your team members to decide which meeting you would like to try to reschedule. If one member is on the appropriations committee or House Science, Space, and Technology Committee or the Senate Commerce or Energy Committees, it would probably be best to prioritize meeting with this office. Please contact Joel or Heather if you would like our input on how to prioritize, and we'll be happy to discuss with you.

  • You say we should CC the AAS Policy staff on our communications, but I can't do that from the website contact portals for my Members of Congress. What should I do?

As long as you are entering your meetings into the master schedule and coordinating with your team, that's all we're looking for. We will be on each of your team email chains regarding scheduling, so we should see how things are going there. That said, if you think you need our help with scheduling, please feel free to loop us into your emails with staff in your Members' offices!

  • We're being invited to coffees or breakfasts, sometimes as the only option to meet with the congressperson. Should we go to the coffee/breakfast? Should we still get a meeting with the staff?

Yes and yes. Offices will frequently choose to host coffee/breakfast on days that they are getting (or are anticipating) a lot of their constituents requesting meetings. The congressperson won't meet with all of these constituents, and so the coffee/breakfast is a way for the constituents to get face-time with the congressperson. This face-time could be a photo-op or an opportunity to deliver a brief version of your message to the congressperson. Either way, you will be able to introduce yourself to the congressperson, socialize informally with the staff, and network with others advocating their interests (plus, free food). And, if you aren't able to deliver your message to the congressperson, then you still have the meeting with the staffer to cover those details. 

  • I'd like an actual script to follow, please.

Here's a template/script for each variant (replace bold text for your specific situation and see [italicized] notes):

Initial phone call for member meeting:

Hello. I'm a constituent of <Senator X or Representative Y> residing in <city/town> and I would like to speak with the <senator's/congressman/woman's> scheduler. 

[Remember to get the spelling of the scheduler's name in case you do not get a response to voicemail and need to email her/him.]

Hello. I'm a constituent of <Senator X or Representative Y> residing in <city/town> and I am going to be in Washington, DC on <DATE> to represent the American Astronomical Society as part of a science and engineering Congressional Visits Day. I am calling to request a 30-minute meeting with the <senator/congressman/woman> to discuss the importance of Federal support for my <research/teaching/education> as a <professor/scientist/postdoctoral fellow/graduate student> at <institution/company>. I will probably be accompanied by 2-3 other astronomers. Is the <senator/representative> available to meet with us?

[If they are ready to schedule you right then, your meeting window is 9:30 am to 5:00 pm.

If they are not ready to schedule and ask that you contact them again in a week or so, ask if they would prefer that follow up by email or phone. If email, ask for their email address.]

Initial phone call for staffer meeting:

Hello. I'm a constituent of <Senator X or Representative Y> residing in <city/town> and I would like to speak with the staff member responsible for science and space issues.

[Remember to get the spelling of the staffer's name in case you have to leave a voicemail but do not get a response within a week.]

Hello. I'm a constituent of <Senator X or Representative Y> residing in <city/town>, and I am going to be in Washington, DC on <DATE> to represent the American Astronomical Society as part of a science and engineering Congressional Visits Day. I am calling to request a 30-minute meeting with you to discuss the importance of Federal support for my <research/teaching/education> as a <professor/scientist/postdoctoral fellow/graduate student> at <institution/company>. I will probably be accompanied by 2-3 other astronomers. Are you available to meet with us?

[If they are ready to schedule you right then, your meeting window is 9:30 am to 5:00 pm.

If they are not ready to schedule and ask that you contact them again in a week or so, ask if they would prefer that follow up by email or phone. If email, ask for their email address.]

Initial e-mail for staffer meeting:

Hello. I'm a constituent of <Senator X or Representative Y> residing in <city/town>, and I am going to be in Washington, DC on <DATE> to represent the American Astronomical Society as part of a science and engineering Congressional Visits Day. I am writing to request a 30-minute meeting with the you to discuss the importance of Federal support for my <research/teaching/education> as a <professor/scientist/postdoctoral fellow/graduate student> at <institution/company>.

[No need to get specific when describing your research/teaching/education work; keep it short and sweet and jargon free(!).] 

I will probably be accompanied by 2-3 other astronomers that day. Are you available to meet with us sometime between 9:30 am and 5:00 pm (or later if necessary)? I have copied the AAS public policy team on this e-mail since they are helping to coordinate the meeting schedule for our team. 

[If you would like run this email by us before you send it, please do.]