Weekly Briefing: Our Legislative Asks for Fall 2025 Lobby Week

November 5, 2025

Lobby Week is almost here! Our liaisons have scheduled 120 virtual meetings with congressional offices for the week of Nov. 17-21, with more rolling in every day. (If you haven't registered for our Fall Conference and Lobby Week, there's still plenty of time! Sign up here.)

This fall, we'll be lobbying on three key legislative priorities:

• Permitting Reform: The policy and political landscape has changed with this new Congress and administration, but momentum for bipartisan permitting reform is still building. We're asking lawmakers of both parties to engage on this topic and negotiate a comprehensive package that will help unlock America's clean energy potential.
  
• Fix Our Forests Act: Healthy forests pull climate pollution out of the atmosphere, making them a key part of the climate puzzle. The Fix Our Forests Act recently passed the Senate Agriculture Committee and now needs support from the full Senate. We're asking lawmakers to vote in favor of the Fix Our Forests Act when it's up for passage.
  
• Foreign Pollution Fees: Over the past few years, lawmakers of both parties have shown growing interest in using trade policy to reduce climate pollution through foreign pollution fees. Our lobby meetings this month will help to grow this interest and support particularly among House Republicans.

CCL's Vice President of Government Affairs Jennifer Tyler, with the help of Research Manager Dana Nuccitelli, dove deeper into these asks in a Primary Ask Training last week. If you weren't able to attend, you can view the recording here.

Find that training and many other resources in CCL's updated Lobbying Toolkit. This complete guide provides step-by-step instructions, best practices, conversation tips, and engagement strategies to have the best possible meeting with Congress.

See the Official Lobby Meeting Toolkit

Take action this week

If you have a little time: Talk about climate on social media. As results roll in from yesterday’s Election Day, take a look at this article from Heatmap News about the role clean energy played in key races (it's free to read with an account!). Then share CCL's posts about the article on X or Bluesky.

If you have more time: Generate local media ahead of Lobby Week. CCL's coordinated lobbying efforts are an effective hook for local media. We never disclose to the media what Members of Congress or their staff say in meetings, but we can and do tell reporters about our own climate advocacy efforts! Distribute a local press release or write a letter to the editor (LTE) or op-ed about Lobby Week. Learn more and find tips for generating media hits in our November Action Sheet.

Featured chapter: CCL Reno

CCL chapters around the country have been busy with outreach this fall. Lots of this outreach rode the wave of public enthusiasm for “Sun Day” in September — a nationwide day of action celebrating and educating people about the power of clean energy.

CCL Reno tabled at their local Sun Day Solar Festival, where chapter members Chloe, Aspen, Brian, Janet, Betsy and Michelle greeted festival-goers with a smile and gathered 29 constituent letters.

At their monthly chapter meeting, CCL Reno gathered three more letters, for a total of 32. Chapter members Betsy and Nancy (pictured) then delivered the letters to the district office of Rep. Mark Amodei (R-NV-02).

This is one of the key ingredients in CCL’s secret sauce — in addition to building community connections around climate change, we also bring those community voices directly to lawmakers, building more and more support for positive change.

Read more about how our chapters celebrated Sun Day and get inspired!

Upcoming trainings

11/6: Fall Conference and Lobby Week Q&A - Are you curious about what to expect from CCL's virtual Fall Conference and Lobby Week, or have a question about any final details? Join Alison Kubicsko, National Events Director, and Mindy Ahler, Congressional Liaison Manager, for a final walk-through of what you need to know. Join us!

11/12: November LTE Writing Workshop - Members of Congress and their staff pay attention to local media — especially when it mentions them by name. During the session, you will learn the "LTE formula" and receive talking points for a climate-focused letter that aligns with CCL’s latest call to action. You'll spend 20 minutes of focused time writing your LTE during the call. Join us!

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