Weekly Briefing: Members Of Congress Are Home In August — Let’s Make The Most Of It

August 9, 2023

 Every August, Congress is scheduled to take a recess, and members head home to work in their district or state offices for the month. This is a great chance to get some face time with your representative and your senators without having to travel to Capitol Hill in D.C., so let’s make the most of this opportunity.

Many members of Congress (MOCs) will hold town halls during August, so that’s one way to connect. Check out your MOC’s website or social media pages to see their upcoming events, and plan to attend. At the town hall, let your climate advocate flag fly! Draft a question for your member of Congress about a climate impact that is affecting you or the local community, and express your desire for a policy solution. 

Another option is to arrange a drop-off at your MOC’s district or state office. Create some sort of “thank you,” like a card or photo signed by your chapter’s members, a baked good, or a potted plant. Plan to briefly stop by the office to drop off your appreciation with the local congressional staff.

All of these efforts go a long way toward building your chapter’s relationship with your member of Congress and showing them that their constituents want climate action.

For more guidance, check out our August Action Sheet or our town hall training.

Take action this week

If you have a little time: Contact Congress about the Increased TSP Access Act. America’s farmers, ranchers, and other forest owners need help to access critical conservation programs. The Increased TSP Access Act would help — send Congress a message about this new legislation.

If you have more time: Tune in to CCL’s August call. Got plans this weekend? CCL is hosting our virtual monthly call for August on Saturday at 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT. We will hear from guest speaker Ramona Liberoff, Executive Director of the Platform for Accelerating the Circular Economy (PACE). We’ll also celebrate recent successes and get down to business with our August actions. Hope you can join us!

Never say never: A lobbying success story

CCL volunteer Teresa Welch serves as a liaison to her chapter’s Democratic member of Congress. When she and the chapter first began lobbying this lawmaker, Teresa says, “He was adamantly opposed to carbon fee and dividend. We asked him about fee and dividend in every town hall, and every time, the answer we got was, ‘I will never support that policy.’”

But through persistent, thoughtful citizen lobbying, Teresa and her chapter helped transform this lawmaker’s stance. By 2021, he was saying in committee meetings, “The solution to climate change is a carbon fee and dividend policy.”

How exactly did this success come about? Watch or read Teresa’s story on the CCL blog.

Upcoming trainings

8/10: Attending Town Halls During the August Recess - Members of Congress are working in their districts and states this month. Attend this training to learn how to find and attend their local town hall meetings and make connections to climate change. Join us!

8/10: Op-ed Template Happy Hour - CCL's communications team has created two new op-ed templates for you to personalize with local details and submit to your local newspaper. If you would like support for that process, attend this workshop to walk through the templates and get them ready for publishing. Join us!

8/17: Welcoming New Volunteers To Your Chapter - Learn to quickly welcome and engage new recruits so they stay active in CCL chapter efforts. Join us!

Need training on the basics? Catch our next session of Core Volunteer Training, made for newer volunteers:

8/15: Communicating With Progressives - CCL Texas State Coordinator and Progressive Outreach Action Team leader Bob Hendricks leads this training on communicating with progressives about a price on pollution. Join us!

To see other topics and past trainings, visit the Training Topics page of CCL Community.