Meet Face-to-Face with Your Representatives

A face-to-face meeting with your Senators and Representatives, or their staff, to discuss the issues carries much more weight than signing a petition, sending a letter, or making a phone call. Make your visit successful by following these pro tips.

Preparing for the Meeting 

• Know the Member. Find out their personal background, information about the committees they’re on, and other positions they hold (or used to) that might be relevant. Craft your talking points around this information. That will help draw a direct link between the Senator or Representative and your advocacy efforts. Even if you’re only meeting with staff, they will appreciate that you took the time to research their boss and incorporate their story into your discussion. 
• Focus on the Housing Credit. You won’t have time to deal with more than one issue very well at the meeting; every additional issue that you raise could dilute the message received by the representative or their staff. Stay relevant!
• Know the issue. If you don’t already know, learn the facts, figures, arguments, and counter- arguments surrounding the issue before your meeting. Knowledge is the cornerstone of advocacy. Check out our key messages (page 13) and national, state, and district fact sheets (website under the Advocacy Toolkit page). We also have fact sheets for states with Republican senators, which demonstrate how many homes and jobs the House version of the tax package would create in their state.
• If your Representative is a cosponsor of the AHCIA, thank them.
• Make it personal. Sharing a real-life example of how your organization has impacted their district will put a face on the work you do. 
• Call us. We are here to help ACTION members successfully frame the issues and understand them inside and out. We can offer talking points, issue briefs, research, and specific information about the Senators and Representatives that you are going to meet. 

During the Meeting 

• Don’t skip the preliminaries. Introduce everyone present and their organizations briefly. Thank the legislator or their staff for the opportunity to meet. If you haven’t discussed in advance how much time you have, confirm during the meeting and respect those limits.
• Designate one person as the lead speaker. Cutting down on the number of people talking shows consensus, allows the Senator or Representative – and their staff – to focus on the message, and reduces the chances of getting sidetracked. 
• Finding out their views is just as important as conveying yours. Ask genuine questions and respect their answers. They often contain valuable information. If you don’t know the answer to their questions, let them know you will find out and get back to them, and then do it. Reach out to us if you don’t know how or where to find the answer.
• Most important: Be clear on your legislative “ask.” Don’t walk away from a Congressional meeting without asking your Senators and Representatives to take the specific action that you want them to take. For example:
  • Convey your support of the AHCIA and ask that they prioritize its inclusion in “must pass” legislation in the 2025 tax package this Congress.
  • Be sure to reiterate the important work that you do and how it’s connected to expanding and strengthening the credit through the AHCIA – specific, local examples are particularly helpful. For more examples of the provisions to highlight, read the talking points on page 13.
• End with a thank you. Regardless of the outcome, thank your Senators and Representative for the opportunity to meet and raise your concerns. Don’t forget to thank their staff as well. If you have business cards, exchange them as the meeting concludes. 

After the Meeting

• Follow up. Send your Senators and Representatives a formal thank-you note, including to their staff, forward any additional information discussed during the meeting, and create a written confirmation of any agreed-to actions. If your Senator or Representative has cosponsored the AHCIA, include that in your thank-you note. 
• If your Senator or Representative asked for more information than you had during the meeting, make sure you follow up with materials or answers. 
• Send ACTION a note on how it went!