The Congressional recess means members of Congress are in their home state to hold town hall meetings, visit fairs and rodeos, and reconnect with constituents. These events are an opportunity to let your Representative and Senators know what you care about.
Here are some issues that are timely to raise with your elected officials during the Congressional recess.
Oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership
This fall, the Obama Administration will ask Congress to approve the secretly negotiated Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal. This agreement would be the largest trade deal ever, with a dozen mostly Asian nations representing 40% of the world’s economy. If passed, the TPP would:
- Make it easier for big corporations to ship jobs overseas, thereby pushing down wages,
- Flood our country with unsafe imported food,
- Ban ‘Buy American’ policies and labeling of products containing genetically modified organisms, and
- Empower corporations to attack our protections for land, air, water, and health.
Ask your members of Congress to oppose TPP. Urge them to tell their party leaders that they oppose the TPP trade agreement. Even telling leadership that they’re undecided will help avoid bringing the TPP up for a vote.
Oppose efforts to block Administration rules and policies
Congress is working on bills to fund the federal government next year. Unfortunately, the bills contain provisions blocking reforms the Obama Administration is working to finish and implement. These reforms include initiatives to:
- Enforce antitrust laws intended to protect family farmers and ranchers from unfair and retaliatory practices by meatpacking companies,
- Review and reform the federal coal leasing program,
- Regulate hydraulic fracturing at federal oil and gas sites,
- Stop venting, flaring and leaks of natural gas,
- Update royalty rates and valuation for coal, oil and gas owned by American taxpayers,
- Ensure protection of intermittent and ephemeral streams by the Clean Water Act,
- Protect streams near coal mines,
- Strengthen requirements for disposal of coal ash,
- Update rules for in-situ uranium mines, and
- Implement the President’s Clean Power Plan.
Urge your Representative and Senators to oppose provisions that would undermine protections for land, air, water and family farmers.
Schedules during Congressional recess
To find out where your members of Congress will attend public events during August, watch the local media, call their offices or check their website to see if their schedule is posted online. Or visit the House and Senate websites.
Contact us if you need more information about any of the issues above. Check out WORC’s guide, How to Have a Successful Lobby Meeting,for tips on how to get the most out of your meeting.