Government affairs

The House and Senate go on recess for two weeks today, which means lawmakers will be heading home to their respective districts and states through Monday, April 29. This is an excellent time for letter carriers to reach out to their Senators and their members of Congress and educate them on our priority issues.

NALC’s resolutions are racking up cosponsors, but with 435 seats in the House, we need 218 cosponsors to achieve a majority. At press, only one resolution has hit that threshold in the House. In the Senate, we need 51 cosponsors and are still at least thirteen Senators away from that goal.

With lawmakers back in their districts and states for the next two weeks, letter carriers should use this recess as an opportunity to get in contact, visit district field offices, attend town hall meetings or other public events, and be clear that we need support on our issues.

Here’s how to get involved:

Schedule a visit in the district: Need help locating your member of Congress or Senator, or the district office nearest you? Click here to find your Senators, click here to find out who your House member is. Ask the staffer what events they will be attending while in-district.

Make calls to their DC offices: You can contact your members via the Congressional Switchboard at (202) 224-3121, be prepared to provide your ZIP code to connect to your representative’s office.

Ask House members to support our House resolutions:

• House Resolution 23 (H. Res. 23) – Door Delivery
  Status: Introduced by Reps. Susan Davis (D-CA) and Peter King (R-NY)
  Co-sponsors: 152 (124 Democrats – 28 Republicans) – list of cosponsors here
• House Resolution 33 (H. Res. 33) – Anti-privatization
  Status: Introduced by Reps. Stephen Lynch (D-MA) and Rodney Davis (R-IL)
  Co-sponsors: 221 (189 Democrats – 32 Republicans) – list of cosponsors here
• House Resolution 54 (H. Res. 54) – Six-day Delivery
  Status: Introduced by Reps. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) and Sam Graves (R-MO)
  Co-sponsors: 206 (154 Democrats – 52 Republicans) – list of cosponsors here
• House Resolution 60 (H. Res. 60) – Service Standards
  Status: Introduced by Rep. David McKinley (R-WV) and Marcy Kaptur (D-OH)
  Co-sponsors: 135 (115 Democrats – 20 Republicans) – list of cosponsors here

Ask Senators to support our Senate resolution:

Senate Resolution 99 (S. Res. 99) – Anti-privatization
Status: Introduced by Sens. Gary Peters and Jerry Moran (R-KS)
Co-sponsors: 37 (28 Democrats – 7 Republicans – 2 Independents) – list of cosponsors here