How to Schedule an Appointment with Your Members of Congress
Thank you for choosing to attend the 21st Advocacy in Action Conference, March 9-11, 2008 in Washington, D.C.! The conference is designed to teach the skills needed to have the most effective meeting possible with your Members of Congress and their staffs.
Please note that conference attendees are responsible for scheduling their own appointments. This ensures that your appointments fit your travel schedule and your agenda.
We recommend scheduling your appointments as soon as possible. The earlier you send your requests, the better the congressional office is able to accommodate you.
How to schedule a congressional appointment:
- Learn who represents you in Congress.
Click here to identify your two Senators and one Representative. Write down the fax and phone numbers for their Washington, D.C. offices (not their home district offices).
- Decide your schedule.
Tuesday, March 11 is set aside for visiting Congressional offices. There is also time for visits on Monday, March 10 from 1 – 5 pm if you are leaving early on Tuesday or have “extra” visits. It’s recommended that you leave 90 minutes between appointments—it takes time to travel between office buildings, go through security, etc. It’s strongly recommended that you schedule the meetings with your 2 Senators back-to-back because their offices will be near each other.
- Download these meeting request letters.
Click here for invitations for your two Senators (download the document twice).
Click here for an invitation for your Representative.
Fill in the personal information where it’s asked for in the letters.
- Fax the meeting requests.
To the Washington, D.C. offices. The fax cover sheet can be directed to “Scheduler.” Do not mail the meeting requests because the security screening can take months.
If you do not get any response in one week, resend the fax or call the office and request to speak to the Scheduler to follow up on your meeting request.
Please note that it is difficult for Congressional offices to guarantee in advance that the member of Congress will be available to meet with because their schedules are always subject to change. Most commonly, the appointment will be scheduled for you and the “legislative assistant” for health issues, and the member of Congress will do his or her best to sit in as well. As we will discuss during trainings at Advocacy in Action, meetings with aides are tremendously important and influential.
If you have any questions, concerns, or require assistance with your scheduling, please do not hesitate to contact NAADAC-NAATP Government Relations Liaison Daniel Guarnera at 800.548.0497 ext. 129 or dguarnera@naadac.org.
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