Lawmakers will be home during the congressional recess (June 29-July 10). The resources on this page provide everything you need to engage your members of Congress on several urgent issues whether through visiting their offices or raising awareness in local media.
Drop-by Lobby Visit
Dropping by the offices of your senators and representatives to have a face-to-face visit is the most powerful thing you can do right now. Want to try and schedule a visit instead? Here’s our guide to get you started.
Just follow these steps:
- Find your member of Congress: Look up the local office locations for your representative and both senators. Choose who you plan to visit.
- Print out a leave-behind to bring on your visit:
- Use this script to guide your interaction with staff:
- Hi, my name is _______. I’m visiting today because I’m concerned [issue(s) you chose to focus on].
Would you or another staff member have 5 minutes to talk with me about this important issue? (If yes, share the leave behind(s), stories, and listen to the perspective of the staffer or member of Congress)
Would you please pass this document along to the appropriate staff member and ask them to let me know [Representative ____ / Senator _____] position on this important issue? Can you give me the contact information of the staffer who works on this policy issue in your D.C. office?
Thank you for taking the time to speak with me.
(Please leave your contact information and tell the staffer that you’d like for the office to follow‐up with you about their answer to your questions)
- Hi, my name is _______. I’m visiting today because I’m concerned [issue(s) you chose to focus on].
- Tell us how it went! Go to fcnl.org/lobbyreport, or email us at Lobby@fcnl.org. Reporting back to FCNL will help our legislative team as they follow‐up with congressional offices back in DC.
Details on Threats to SNAP
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act shifts some of SNAP’s benefit costs onto states for the first time in the program’s history, based on the state’s “error rate.” This is the percentage of total benefits that states underpay or overpay. States are working hard to reduce their error rates, but the government shutdown and delayed guidance from the administration have made it difficult. Those states with the highest error rates get an extra two years before the cost shift goes into effect. We’re calling for all states to have the same extra two years before these SNAP cuts go into effect.
The rapidly approaching deadline means states are trying to save money by adding barriers and cutting people from the program.