What to Talk About With Your Members of Congress on Recess

This week, your Members of Congress (MoCs) don’t have votes and committee hearings. This is a great opportunity to ask them the big picture questions—and to try to get them to commit to an answer—so we’ve outlined four major topics to ask your MoCs about. It’s also a week where they’re supposed to be focusing entirely on YOU, so just as important as our suggestions is for you to ask them about whatever issues matter to you the most. Here are our guides on how to talk about some big issues:

• Defending the ACA/Obamacare. Republicans have been trying and failing to repeal Obamacare for seven years. And seven years later, they’ve still got no plan for how to replace it. If your MoC has been calling for repeal, ask them these questions—we’re pretty confident they won’t have a good answer.
• Opposing Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court. The next Supreme Court justice will shape the Court’s decisions for decades to come. It’s absolutely essential that Democratic Senators stick together in opposing Trump’s nominee.
• Opposing the Muslim and refugee ban. Trump’s appalling ban may be tangled up in the courts right now, but he’s announced that another executive order on immigration is coming soon. A town hall is a good time to get your MoC to commit publicly to taking action.
• Demanding that Trump release his tax returns. With this week’s revelations about ties between Trump’s inner circle and Russia, this is more important than ever. Congress can make Trump release his tax returns, but they have to act. Push your MoCs to sign Rep. Bill Pascrell’s letter—check out the last set of questions here for more information on what to ask your MoC.

Everything else you need for the week is available in our Reclaim Recess toolkit

In addition to the above issue-specific guides, we’ve got tips on having a successful town hall and sample questions to ask your MoC. This includes:

• Video Tutorial on Town Halls with Robert Reich
• Missing Member Action Plan
• How to Have a Successful Town Hall
• Sample Questions to Ask MoCs at Town Halls
• ACA Action Plan
• Congressional District ACA Data
• Annotated GOP ACA Talking Points
• SCOTUS Action Plan
• Refugee and Muslim Ban Action Plan

A few especially important points to remember:

• Be prepared: have in mind the questions you want to ask your MoC or stories you want to tell—practice your story in advance if you need to.
• Model progressive values: you can hold your MoC accountable and still be kind, polite, and respectful of them, their staff, and other town hall attendees.
• Take pictures and videos: This is crucial to your success—be sure to send these to local press. We’ll help amplify your message too, so share your pictures, videos, and stories with us at stories@indivisibleguide.com, use #indivisible and tag @IndivisibleTeam on Twitter, or post them to Facebook.com/IndivisibleGuide.