Public Policy - Getting Involved
How a bill becomes a law
Rather than re-writing the multitudes of webpages that exist for learning how a bill becomes a law, the ASLO Public Affairs Office has provided links to several websites which each take a slightly different approach.
Each chamber has an informative summary of how a bill becomes a law. Those summaries can be located at the Library of Congress website, using the following links.
Official U.S. House of Representatives version:
http://thomas.loc.gov/home/lawsmade.toc.html
Official U.S. Senate version:
http://thomas.loc.gov/home/enactment/enactlawtoc.html
While both the House and Senate have their “official” versions of how a bill becomes a law (above links), you may not be surprised to find out that several members of Congress have provided the following link on their website to assist their constituents in understanding the long journey of a bill through Congress.
Schoolhouse Rocks version:
http://www.school-house-rock.com/Bill.html
Who Represents Me in Congress?
If you know your state and zip code, you can easily find out who represents you in Congress by following these two links:
To find out who represents you in the US House of Representatives:
http://www.house.gov/writerep/
To find out who your state’s two Senators are:
http://www.senate.gov/senators/senator_by_state.cfm
How Do I Get Involved?
Scientists often wonder what they can contribute to the world of policy. Every American has the right to contact their representatives and let them know their opinion on any number of things (free trade, gun control, etc.). However, scientists are typically more interested in how they can get objective information into the hands of the correct people. This is a far different matter than calling up and requesting a yes or no vote on a particular bill.
- Contacting Congress
-
Before you pick up the phone or send a letter to Congress, you need to be prepared. In many ways, preparing to communicate with Congress is much like preparing a manuscript for submission to a journal. First you have to collect and analyze the data. Next, you have to determine which journal is most appropriate for your paper. Finally, you have to write a letter to that journal’s editor explaining why they should publish your paper in their journal. The analogous steps for getting involved in policy are to determine what you are going to say, whom you are going to say it to and why they should care.
- What should I talk about?
-
The first part is fairly easy – most likely you will want to talk about your research area (e.g., marine fisheries, water quality in estuaries). You will need to make sure that all of your communications are understandable to a very general audience. Remember that members of Congress and their staff are incredibly busy and deal with issues ranging from missile defense to education. Before you meet with a congressional representative, see if a non-scientist friend or family member can understand what you are trying to get across. (You are also encouraged to contact the ASLO policy representative for any assistance with Congressional interaction: policyrep@aslo.org).
- Who should I talk to and why should they care?
-
When communicating science to policy-makers, it is critical to determine the appropriate audience. To assist you in this first step, we have highlighted the authorizing and appropriating committees (hyperlink to: http://aslo.org/policy/committees.html) with jurisdictions relevant to ASLO members. If you work on oceanography or marine ecology, you will most likely focus your interactions with members of the Commerce Committee in the Senate and the Natural Resources Committee in the House since they have jurisdiction over NOAA. If you are looking to garner support for scientific research programs within the federal government, you will want to speak with the House Science Committee, the Senate Commerce Committee and the Science Appropriations subcommittee staff. If you need assistance in identifying the appropriate audience, contact the ASLO Public Affairs Director for assistance.
Most importantly, you want to make sure that you make your objective clear. This does not mean that you have to lobby them on a particular issue, but it does mean that you need to be sure that the office is clear about the reason for your visit. If it is merely a visit to let them know that you are in their district and willing to serve as a resource for them, be sure they know that (they will relax substantially if they know you aren’t getting ready to ask them for something!). If you are visiting because your latest research suggests a new way of managing natural resources, be sure you explain that clearly.
Finally, if you are visiting to request funding (for scientific research, a particular management agency, etc.), you need to have a justification for the request. For example, if you think that Sea Grant needs more funding for applied research, provide evidence that a lack of research in that area has hampered the field. You can also cite statistics on the percentage of grants funded. Congressional offices receive an amazing number of requests for increased funds for a variety of programs. Unless they believe it is a truly necessary request, they will not put a lot of effort into honoring it. This is also important because there is a perception that scientists are only interested in getting more funding for their research. (For anyone interested in the relationship between science funding and politics, read Daniel Greenberg’s book: “Science, Money and Politics: Political Triumph and Ethical Erosion”.)
- Interacting with members of Congress and their staff
-
As previously mentioned Congressional offices are extremely busy places. With that in mind, we’ve prepared some tips for working with Congress.
- Call first for an appointment. If you call to set up an appointment, you will most likely get sent to the office scheduler. You may want to ask to speak to the staff member handling aquatic issues (be general about your specialty: water quality, oceans, fisheries, etc.). You can then introduce yourself to the staff member and ask when a convenient time would be for you to meet with them. This will give them a chance to avoid days when the workload is especially high, increasing the likelihood that you will have their full attention.
- If at all possible, meet with your representative on your home-turf. Each member of Congress has at least one office in his or her district. During Congressional recesses, members go home to their district specifically for the purpose of interacting with their constituents. This is an excellent opportunity to get a foot in the door.
- If you are in DC on other business and haven’t scheduled an appointment, call the office to see if they have a scheduled “open house” that week. Many members reserve an hour or two each week to meet with constituents who are in the DC area. This is a great opportunity to meet directly with your member of Congress.
- Keep your comments brief and to the point. Prepare a one-page document to leave behind: bullet point your comments rather than writing an abstract. Provide your contact information on the one-page document: you want to be sure that if the staff needs to contact you, they have easy access to that information.
- Don’t bother providing a full c.v. or reprints unless requested. Staff members can receive nearly a foot of mail and leave-behinds every day (most of which winds up in the recycling bin). Staff are much more likely to keep a one-page document than a huge folder of papers.
- Use language that the general public can understand. To handle the amount of issues that Congress deals with, members and their staff are generalists (this is slightly less true for committees). If they need more detailed information than you provide, they will ask questions. It is better to provide a basic outline and have a dialog with the staff member during your meeting. This is true communication and will assist you in forming a relationship with the staff that will help them remember who you are.
- Do not be surprised (or annoyed!) if the person you meet with is fresh out of college. For the most part, congressional staffers are very young (slightly older on the Senate than the House and in committees than in personal offices). The worst thing you can do, however, is to assume they know nothing. People working in politics are very perceptive and will notice if you are not taking them seriously. Take it from a former staff member: you do not want to anger the 22 year old who has the ear of their boss (the one who votes)!
- If the staff or member requests some sort of follow-up, be sure to provide it on a timely basis. (You may want to FAX or email a copy of the documents to the staff because of the delay in mail handling.) The more contact you have with the staff, the more likely they will remember you and will call you when they need your advice or assistance.
- Finally, if you feel it’s appropriate, extend an invitation to the staff or member to attend a function at your university or even to accompany you to your field site (many DC staffers would love the opportunity to do something other than sit in more meetings when they visit the home district!). Even if they never attend, staffers take notice of the invitations (as well as newsletters) they receive from various groups.
For those who are looking for more information on how to successfully interact with Congress, AAAS has published an excellent guide for scientists and engineers. A description and ordering information from the AAAS website has been posted here for your convenience. To order the book or to view other online resources compiled by AAAS, visit http://www.aaas.org/spp/cstc/wwc/.
Working with Congress: A Practical Guide for Scientists and Engineers Second edition, by William G. Wells, Jr. provides valuable information for scientists and engineers who want to communicate more effectively with lawmakers. This edition incorporates information about communicating with Members of Congress via electronic mail and includes a new section describing World Wide Web sites that pertain to Congress. It also includes an expanded list of professional societies and other organizations that deal with S&T policy. The 17 Cardinal Rules for working with Congress, one of the most popular features of the first edition, are also listed.