For a successful meeting with your members of Congress, make sure you can answer the following questions:
What issues do you want the Congressmember to know about?
Is there a specific piece of legislation you want to be introduced or supported?
Has the bill been introduced yet? If so, by whom? What are the bill numbers (if the bill has been introduced)?
Does it have bipartisan support?
How expensive will the program be? What will it cost? (You don’t need to know an exact number here.)
Are there constituents in the Congressmember’s jurisdiction that are impacted by the issue? Give a specific story if applicable.
Do you have any research or statistics to back up what you are saying?
What committee would the bill likely be sent to? (relevant if you are meeting with a member who is not on the committee list)
Are we the same as the other blindness groups they’ve spoken with? How are we different? (They conflate ACB with NFB.)
Are there any other issues the Congressmember should be aware of?
Hill Etiquette
Dress professionally. Groups may visit wearing matching apparel, such as matching affiliate T-shirts.
Shake the hand of the congressional staff member you meet with.
If you do not know the answer to a question, tell them you will get back to them with the information. (Do not make something up.)
If you meet virtually, turn your camera on and make sure you are in view.
They generally only have 30 minutes for a meeting, so use the time responsibly and appropriately.
Know the topic you are talking about, i.e., the bills you are advocating for.
Feel free to share your own lived experiences; personal anecdotes can be powerful.
Be flexible. Sometimes you may meet in unpredictable places such as hallways or cafeterias.
Retrieve business cards, if possible, for future communication.
Send a thank-you email after the meetings, thanking them for taking time to speak with you.
Provide paper copies of the imperatives as well as emailed copies.