Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

  • grabyourwallet.org: lists companies that do business with the Trump family and others who we may wish to boycott. Then emailing/calling the companies to say you will be boycotting.
  • Represents the 65 million who did not vote for Trump; gives daily suggestions for calling elected officials, including scripts/talking points for the various issues.
  • Provides information gathered on voting records.
  • .The Trace:A daily newsletter about gun issues

Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

These are the senators who specifically drive all legislation affecting the Second Amendment.

Sen. Ron Johnson R-WI Chair, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs (54901) (53202) Phone numbers:

  • 202 224 5323
  • 920 230 7250
  • 414 276 7282

Senator Claire McCaskill, D-MO, Vice Chair, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Phone numbers:

  • 573 651 0964
  • 202 224 6154

Grandparents Against

Gun Violence

How to Become

an Advocate for

Common Sense Gun Laws

We are seeing the power of the people as citizens all over the country are calling their elected officials. We may feel they are not listening – but they are – and we must keep the pressure on them by calling, calling, calling. Please read this and then make a commitment to take some action every day! Our children and grandchildren deserve the efforts we make to ensure they feel safe in their community.

How to Move the Needle with Legislators

What they care about:

  • Constituents
  • Advocacy requiring effort-calls, emails, showing up
  • Local and national press/editorials
  • Famous people locally, big contributors
  • Concrete asks-“Vote,” make a public statement
  • A single ASK in a communication

What they don’t care about:

  • People outside district
  • Form letters, petitions, Tweets, Facebook
  • A single constituent
  • A laundry list of issues

What they are looking for:

  • Constituent feels happy concerns were answered.
  • Positive local news about showing up and support
  • A vote on a bill with press release about ++ steps

What they want to avoid:

  • Constituent posts negative letter/Local negative news
  • Local reports that angry constituents objected to position/Overwhelmed by calls objecting to legislation

Advocacy Resources

Web sites: Choose how you would like to advocate. There are great resources for advocating for and against gun legislation.

  • A guide for resisting the Trump agenda developed by former congressional staffers under Obama, who witnessed the rise of the Tea Party.
  • 5calls.org Web site to make calling reps very easy.
  • dailyaction.org Sign up for FREE text message Mon-Fri with an action for the day. Tap on the phone number in the text, listen to the action, if you agree, enter your zip code to be automatically routed to your congressperson's office or other official for your area.
  • concrete action items/week
  • This site is focused on regaining control of the House in 2018: specifically focusing on some of the swing districts and ways one can help even if they don't live in that district. In addition, they recommend emailing or calling the companies to let them know why you will be boycotting.

Phone call tactics

  • When calling the DC office, ask for the Staff member in charge of what you're calling about. Local offices=little specific knowledge.
  • If you get transferred to that person, awesome. If you don't, that's ok.
  • Ask for their name, then keep talking to who answers.
  • Don't leave a message (unless the office doesn't pick up at all, then you can...but it's better to talk to the staffer who first answered than leave a message for the specific staffer in charge of your topic).
  • Give them your zip code. They won't always ask: make sure you give it to them, so they can mark it down.
  • Extra points if you live in a zip code that traditionally votes for them since they'll want to make sure they get/keep your vote.
  • If you can make it personal, make it personal.
  • Pick 1-2 specific things per day to focus on. Ideally something that will be voted on in the next few days, but it doesn't really matter.
  • They may get to know your voice - it doesn't matter. The people answering the phones turn over every 6 weeks.
  • If you hate being on the phone, don't worry about it. There are scripts you can use. After a few days, it becomes more natural.
  • Set up your phone to make it easier. Put the six numbers in your phone (local and DC numbers) which makes it easy to click down the list each day.
  • Be clear on what you want. "I'm disappointed, I want to thank he/she for their vote on, or I want them to know that voting in _____ way is the wrong decision for our state because...

What Not-For-Profits Can/Can Not Do.

ADVOCACY is good; we can and should advocate for policy change. Advocacy includes: Educate public/ legislators

PARTISANSHIP: Support of/oppose a candidate for public office is prohibited. We must be “non-partisan.”

LOBBYING Any lobbying activity must be tracked, recorded, and is very limited. Only 20% of budget may be used for lobbying.

  • DIRECT: Communication with a legislator about specific legislation: includes federal and state legislators, county commission and city councils. A legislator’s staff counts.
  • GRASSROOTS:The public. (Our GAGV members/contacts are considered the public.) Express a view about specific legislation with a “call to action”. For example: asking members to contact identified legislators; providing addresses, phone numbers and copy points.

So, what should we do: CALL &/ or SHOWUP!
Show up/Face time

  • If they have town halls, go to them.
  • Go to their local offices.

It’s all about phone calls.In-person doesn’t happen every day, so, it’s most importantto CALL @DAY.

  • How many each day?
  • Six calls a day. 2 each X 2 Sen. and 1 Rep (local +DC)
  • Every day, senior staff create a report of the 3 most-called-about topics at @ of their offices (in DC and local).
  • And, exactly how many people said what about each topic.
  • They're also sorted by zip code and area code.
  • What about Republican vs. Democrat callers?
  • Republican callers generally outnumber Democrat callers 4:1. If it's a particular issue that single-issue-voters pay attention to it's often closer to 11-1.
  • In the last 8 years, Republicans have called, and Democrats haven't.
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