Lobbying the U.S. Government

Washington D.C. – I love it! There’s something about this city that just grabs me and makes me happy to live so close to it. Something about being in the political center of the world, where decisions can impact people worldwide.
This past week I spent two days lobbying the government to make such a decision. This is my third year of participating in lobbying activities on the Hill.

CAPITOL HILL
© Photo taken by Daniel Hinckley (11/10/05)

It took me three years, to figure out where the Senate buildings and House of Representative buildings are in relation to Capitol Hill. I’m very proud of myself. It’ll probably take me another three years to commit to memory a map of the insides of each building.

I lobby the government as part of a group of 150 people who descend on the Capitol once a year. We are passionate about finding a cure to Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis. We take two days vacation from our regular daily work to dedicate to lobbying the government. The first day involves lectures about advances in research and some training on what the new bill is trying to achieve. We’ve been extremely successful last year in getting some of the points from our bill last year signed into the Research Review Act of 2004 (a bill that combined with Christopher Reeve’s Foundation assured that some money will be provided to the NIDDK at the NIH for research of Inflammatory Bowel Disease, as well as some money allocated to the CDC for a survey into the prevelance of inflammatory bowel diseases in the U.S.).

How does the legislative process work? In a nutshell – A representative from the House of Representatives introduces the bill in the House of Representatives. So now there’s a bill out there that at least one person feels very strongly about. This bill is then sent to an appropriate committee that can make changes to the wording and determine if it goes on to voting at the House of Representatives. Once it passes the voting in the House of Representatives it moves on to the Senate for voting. When it reaches the Senate it goes to another committee. Once the bill is passed in the Senate it is sent to another committee that words it with all the revisions and then it is sent back to the House of Representatives and the Senate for final approval. Then it gets a new number, gets printed and is now signed by the Vice President and Speaker of the House before the President signs on it.

Keep in mind that there are 435 representatives. If one of them introduced our bill in congress, it does not in any way assure us that the bill will pass in voting. Lobbying means that citizens that feel passionate about this bill, walk the Hill and meet with legislators in an effort to secure a promise from them to co-sponsor the bill. If we are able to secure at least 218 cosponsors, we are almost assured our bill will pass in a simple voting.

When a Representative or a Senator is convinced enough to co-sponsor they call a certain phone number and request to add their name to the list of co-sponsors. This list is available live on the internet, so you can follow up on your congressman and ensure that they indeed put their name on the list. If you find that they are still on the fence and have not signed up officially as a cosponsor on your bill, you have the right to call them, email them, write them, and schedule appointments with them, until one of you gets tired of the other. In my personal case, after visiting my congressman, stalking him to a public meeting at a nearby library, giving him a videotape showing sick kids at camp, sending him letters with photos and emailing him – I finally got the letter from him that started with “Thank you for your persistent concern on the issue of Inflammatory Bowel Disease…You will be glad to know I have decided to add my name as a cosponsor…” My reaction, “YES!!! Mission accomplished.”

Thankfully, lobbying as part of a group means that someone else takes care of your schedule of meetings with the congressmen and senators. Ideally, your schedule will include a meeting with your own district’s congressman (because they’d rather hear from their own constituents than from someone who lives in Timbaktu) and with your state’s senators (two of them, for those who are not from the U.S. or too young to know this). Dress code – formal business wear. Ladies in black pants or skirts, men with suit and tie.

So on Thursday morning we received the schedules of our meetings. Six meetings mean, once an hour you have a meeting. Sounds easy enough until you look at the map of Capitol Hill.

The U.S. Capitol lies in the center of two parallel streets – Constitution Avenue and Independence Ave. If you’re meeting with a Senator – you need to be on the side of Constitution Ave. If you’re meeting with a Representative – you need to be not only on the side of Independence Ave but all the way diagonally from the Senate buildings. That’s a 10-15 minute walk from front building door to side-building door (God forbid that there’s a clear entrance to each building… Some entrances are on the side. Hidden and secure). Then there’s a five minute security check. Then there’s a two minute elevator wait. And then there’s a five minute search for the right office number. While this may seem like an easy task, it becomes rather stressful when one congressman talks for 45 minutes and then you have less than 15 minutes to make it across the Capitol and find the right office for your next meeting. Being late to a meeting like this – not an option!!!

Not everyone gets to meet with the Senators and Congressmen, in fact most of us meet with the staff, the aides. These are young bright individuals who have some serious influence on their bosses. They will pretty much update their congressmen word-by-word of what you told them. They have the most outstanding memory. Considering that three of them saw me a year ago, and that they meet people daily, I was absolutely floored when they recognized me and remembered my story! I found that most aides are absolutely wonderful people, very sympathetic and eager to hear your stories and learn more about inflammatory bowel diseases. It’s very rare to come across a block with someone who couldn’t care less about your cause. After all, they care about your vote, they have to show you interest!

So what do the buildings look like? They are large, old, and what can I say – they look like government buildings. The elevators are tiny and old. The hallways are very wide and comfortable. Each office is ranked with two flags – the U.S. flag and that State’s flag. There is no particular order to the offices, other than the room numbers. No alphabetical order. Our Maryland representatives are scattered in three different buildings. The offices are surprisingly small and packed with stuff (books, binders, papers, items). Trying to fit six people into a conference room or meeting room may be difficult at some offices. Each office has a TV open to CSPAN, a station that brings live updates from the Senate floor or from congressional meetings. Sometimes the administrative staff at the front desk would be sitting and watching TV on their computers. It’s their job! On the walls you will find photos, drawings and plaques that would easily hint to you which state you’re in and which congressman you’re about to meet. Some have kids drawings hanging on the walls – part of a national competition, where the winning entries get to be hung at a congressional office for a year.

At the end of the day, when you had made it across the Capitol four times (first meeting with the Senator, then three meetings with House of Rep., then meeting with the senator, then debriefing at the House of Rep.), you have just about enough energy to crawl to a METRO station, get to your car and drive another half hour home. The following day, your overall pain from walking so much the previous day will be a pleasant reminder for your accomplishments.

Final result, two senators will cosponsor our Act, and four promised to sign on. 100% success for my meetings. I was one of the lucky ones.