Call Congress

Calling your Senators and Representative helps create the political will needed to solve global warming by demonstrating constituent concern. Call your members of Congress to amplify our voices and help move Congress closer to enacting the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Action.

Getting started

If you're interested in getting help one time, use CCL’s online calling tool cclusa.org/call to: 

1. Get the phone numbers for your members of Congress
2. See and use a simple script for House members and Senators
3. Report your calls - be sure to click the "DONE CALLING" button so that your calls are reported and you don’t need to file a field report.

If you call your member of Congress directly - not using CCL’s online calling tool, be sure to: 

1. Start by saying that you are a constituent and a voter and climate is your highest priority issue
2. If your Representative is a bill co-sponsor then express appreciation, otherwise, ask your Representative to “cosponsor” the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act.
3. When you call your two Senators, ask them to “cosponsor” the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act when it is reintroduced in the Senate.
4. Report your calls in using the Action Tracker so that we know how many calls were made

Sample Script

Personalize the following sample script. The more personal your call is, the better!

I am a constituent and a voter, and climate change is a priority issue for me. 

Last sentence for House members who have cosponsored the bill:

I am calling to thank you for co-sponsoring the Energy Innovation Act, and to request that you ask one of your colleagues to join you as a cosponsor. 

Last sentence for House members who have not cosponsored the bill: 

I'm calling today to ask you to co-sponsor the Energy Innovation Act.

Last sentence for Senators:

I'm calling today to ask you to co-sponsor the Energy Innovation Act, when it is reintroduced in the Senate.  

Tips for generating more calls during Call Congress Campaigns

Here are some tips from across the country on how to generate more calls for Call-in Day campaigns.

Preparing ahead:

• Ask who called on our last Call Congress Day and personally ask those people to recruit and call alongside at least one additional caller and let you know how many callers they recruited.
• Consider how to best leverage the volunteers in your district(s) and start asking who would be interested in putting your local phone or text tree together. Involving newer members and young adults has led to even greater success.
• Set a goal for how many people you will get to make calls and make a list of who they are. These are the people you will personally follow-up with on the day of the call-in to remind them to call. They are the most likely people to actually call because they want to support you.
• Consider using a hand-out at a local event to help encourage others (see example resource here)
• Enlist local ally organizations to activate their volunteers.  350.org, Indivisible, LCV, LWV, etc.

One week before:

• Share our Facebook event, cclusa.org/call-congress-fb, click that you are ‘going”, and “invite friends.” Use Facebook messenger to ask people to call.
• Post the action alert on your chapter’s website and Facebook page.
• Contact the local organizations that you work with and the local chapters of national organizations, asking them to share the action alert with their members.
• Send an email a week ahead to your group list or contacts telling them why you are going to call Congress, and asking them to put it in their calendar. Make allowances for time zone differences between Washington, D.C. and where you live, so you call before 4:30 p.m. Eastern.
• Include and promote the link to our online calling tool so they can easily report their phone call.  Alternatively, you could add everybody to the event on your calendar.
• Have your team call your chapter members to follow up on your email and remind them to call and invite their network to call.

Day before and on Call-in day:

• Send an email the day before alerting everybody again with the link.

On Call Congress Day, make your calls early in the day and then text or call the people on your target list to tell them how good it felt and how easy it was to use our online calling tool cclusa.org/call

• NY Times: Why Call Congress Over Email