Our government spends a lot of money (trillions of dollars) every year. Naturally, Congress, which is given the power of the purse by the Constitution, spends a lot of time deciding how much to spend and what to spend it on.
As we discuss in the Indivisible Guide, every MoC has one or more local offices, but constituents very rarely visit them. The Tea Party understood this, and they knew they could make their voice heard by going in person to those offices, often unannounced. This demonstrates to them that you, their constituents, care very much about the issue you’ve come in to speak about and that you’ll be watching what they do going forward.
Different groups communicate with each other or store information in different ways. And just like steps to ensure physical security, it’s important to consider the risks you and your group might be facing—or might not.
Letters to the editor might not seem like the flashiest way to get your Member of Congress’s attention. But there’s something about a sharp letter to the editor in a hometown paper that can really get under the skin of the most powerful lawmaker.
Congress is charged by the Constitution with making decisions about how to spend public money. In practice, these spending decisions are split into two parts: authorization and appropriations.
Calling Members of Congress (MoCs) that are not yours is actually counterproductive to successfully deploying constituent power. The only Members of Congress you should be calling are YOUR two Senators and YOUR Representative in the House. There are no exceptions. Here’s why.
What does it mean to “whip the vote,” anyway? Unity ahead of a fight is a key ingredient to legislative success, and MoCs in leadership have a fleet of tools at their disposal to make sure that their caucus stays together.
