August Recess on Capitol Hill

Hello team, this is going to be a round-up of slightly different variety. We are headed into what is one of the most consequential moments for constituents to raise their voices. As known on Capitol Hill as August recess. Recess is a bit of a misnomer in terms of a term. Because it's really about lawmakers going back to do work in their districts for the entire month of August. A lot of the DC staff will probably take their vacations during this time. But the members will be in their districts meeting with constituents on a variety of issues. This is a prime chance for you to have your Congress member hear your concerns, opportunities, and anything else you wish to voice.

Consider this blog a primer to get ready for that discussion. Over the rest of the month, I will release a few more pieces that get some more detailed areas. They will cover some of the big issues in Washington from Police reform, to infrastructure and support for social programs.

First things first, you have to be able to know how to find your lawmaker. This breaks down into a couple of areas of key interest. The first and most obvious place to look is one the member's websites. They routinely post public events that the member might be appearing at. The next place I would recommend is the town hall project. This website is run by several open society advocates that combe the internet for any representative or senator hosting a town hall. Finally, there is also old fashion strategy of googling the member and events and seeing what pops up. This takes a little more finesse to look through and find 

There are three pieces of legislation I think our particular importance for the community to be tracking. The first is the discussion of the police reform bill. Although if we are missing some essential elements that we want. It seems to be moving forward and will be a primary piece of legislation this summer.

The second is the infrastructure bill. It will cover things like power grids, roads, bridges as well as having elements like increasing broadband in rural areas and some of the climate adaption provisions.

 The third piece of legislation is the reconciliation bill that, at this point, looks like to be a grabbag for major elements to move at once on only democratic votes. It will cover everything that didn't get done in the American jobs plan plus all the items that are considered able to go to able to go into reconciliation process from the American families plan. This could potentially make the child tax credit permanent, provide funding and support for eldercare and universal pre-K, among many other priorities that the Democratic Party. There's less detail on what will be in this package; however, we will be tracking it as it goes forward. 

Get ready for a lot of hurry up and wait and then a chance to really push lawmakers when they are at home.