Online Advocacy Center

Resources for advocacy at the state and federal levels.

Finding your Representative and Senators

• To contact your senators visit http://www.senate.gov

• To contact your representative visit http://www.house.gov. 

Committees

Most of the work of Congress is conducted through committees. Here are some of the committees that frequently consider higher-education-related issues. If your representative or one of your senators is on one of these committees make a special effort to keep in touch.

• Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee http://help.senate.gov/

• House Committee on Education and the Workforce:
  (Republicans) http://edworkforce.house.gov/
  (Democrats) http://democrats.edworkforce.house.gov/

• Senate Appropriations Committee http://appropriations.senate.gov/

• House Appropriations Committee http://appropriations.house.gov/

• Senate Judiciary Committee http://judiciary.senate.gov/

• House Judiciary Committee http://www.house.gov/judiciary/

Advocacy Tips

• 10 golden rules for meetings with legislators and staffers

• Messaging

• The Nuts & Bolts of Lobbying (PowerPoint) from Summer Institute 2008

• Visiting a congressional office

The Federal Legislative Process

• Glossary of Congressional terms

• United States Senate legislative process

• United States House of Representatives legislative process

The Appropriations Process

• Congressional Research Service report on the appropriations process

• The Federal Budget: A Congressional Performance in Three Acts   

Sources for Information on Higher Education Policy

News

Note: Some of these require subscriptions. Those that are not free are probably available to you via your institution’s subscription to Lexis-Nexis or other search engines.

• The Hill
• Politico
• The education section of the New York Times 
• The Chronicle of Higher Education
• Inside Higher Ed

Federal Legislation

• THOMAS website
• Congressional Quarterly

Policy Analysis

• The Brookings Institution
• Congressional Research Service
• American Political Science Association