Initial Publication Date: November 30, 2021

Reaching Policymakers

What are the best mechanisms to reach and engage policymakers in Scientific Ocean Drilling?

Our first panel and associated breakout groups addressed means of connecting with policy makers. Kasey White (Director for Geoscience Policy, GSA) and Jeremy Marcus (Deputy Chief of Staff and Senior Appropriations Associate for Rep. Matt Cartwright) discussed practical "how to" approaches to engage policy makers. The same question was addressed in breakout groups.A key part of the discussion concerned the practical realities of working with staff and elected officials –their timelines, what information they need to make decisions, and how an "ask" can be structured to have maximum impact.

Some realities: Congressional staff are spread very wide and very thin. Make your ask easy on them by...

Being specific right up front. What do you want them to support? [money, voting on a bill, being a champion...]
Being (if possible) simple. [Such as: Do the research so your Electeds don't have to. Write what you want them to sign, give them the text of a bill they previously supported.]
Explaining why your ask matters and how it is relevant to the specific elected official, their constituents, their district.
Do not bother with vague generalities about why your science is interesting. This wastes time as there is no specific action involved. Also, a specific ask is easier to respond to than something vague. Asking for funding for a ship is easier and more concrete than asking for funding for STEM education/workforce development. The ship is very concrete – a definite piece of infrastructure - whereas STEM education comes under the preview of many constituencies.
The Congressional Schedule—when to make your "ask".
- Make your ask when Congress is not trying to move bills and everyone is working 100 hr workweeks. (best months: Jan-Feb, followed by Sept-Dec; aiming for the time after bills have been passed. Also the time after summer recess and presidential approval of the Appropriations Bill.
  - Feb – March – generally time for hearings
  - April – July – very busy with negotiations over bills
  - Aug – usually a dead time
  - Sept – traditionally when the appropriations bills are passed. However, this is rarely done on time and can extend through to early the next year.
  - Oct – Jan – traditionally a great time to hear new initiatives since it follows votes on appropriations.
- Best contact time is the month immediately after presidential approval.

Some conditions that help them get to "yes". Your ask:

Is relevant to the member, clearly stating how it is relevant.
Is consistent with things they have supported before.
Relates to Committees / Caucuses they already sit on.
Benefits their state, district, constituents.
Give them positive press, tagging them or writing about them when something they have supported benefits you.
Is actionable immediately without requiring additional research.
Fits the mission of the specific office you are working with. District offices deal with local District policy, whereas the DC office deals with National policy. You should tailor your "ask" to the appropriate level.

The most effective means of getting attention:

Social media – Calling out a member (positively) in social media posts will be noticed by their office.
Name dropping — writing Op Eds with members / staffers, social media posts, letters to the editor that explicitly mention the Member's name. [These are gathered by news clipping companies and will be seen by the Congressional member]
Individualized letters are also good, but are increasingly swamped by mass mailings—The problem is volume: Typically, a Congress member's office gets 6000+ letters a week....
In-person visits followed up in a couple days with an e-version of your "1 pager".
Site visits (particularly those where constituents are present).
Line up supporters—the more Congressional members who have heard of an issue, and support it, the better.
The more requests there are supporting your topic, the more attention it will receive.
For appropriations staffers, it is more effective to approach the staff through an organization rather than as an individual. Appropriations staff will wonder if your organization has the experience, scale, and ability to utilize an appropriation to have some impact on society or policy.

Two-pager:

These are often considered outdated.

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Provenance: Carol Cotterill, Columbia University in the City of New York
Reuse: This item is in the public domain and maybe reused freely without restriction.
Easily lost amongst the volumes of other paperwork submitted