CALL SQUAD TOOLKIT
Why should you call your Member of Congress?
A Primer from Indivisible Oregon
Members of Congress (MoCs) work for you, their constituents. You are ultimately their boss. To do their job, they need to know your feelings on the bills and issues in front of them.
After district office visits, calling is the most effective way to communicate with your Member of Congress. MoCs know that calling takes more effort and they give calls much more weight than Resistbot, faxes, and emails. Furthermore, faxes and emails are reviewed in batches and it can take some time for staff to get to them – so your feedback may not arrive in time.
What if your Member of Congress (MoC) doesn’t agree with you?
You should definitely call.
MoCs are always watching the political winds and thinking about reelection. Calls in opposition help them to figure out how much trouble they are in, and whether they need to shift their strategy.
Even if you think your MoC will never publicly break from their stance, they can influence Republican leadership behind the scenes.
What if they do agree with you? Won’t they vote the right way anyway?
You should (STILL) definitely call.
People who do not agree with you are calling. Nativist groups like Numbers First are driving floods of calls to the Senate. If they outnumber us, then your MoCs could change their minds or simply work less hard for the position you want. Our calls provide a counterbalance to these opposition calls.
MoCs track the ratio of calls, even when they are unwavering on an issue, to see if they are winning the public opinion fight. Our MoCs sometimes quote the number of calls on an issue when recruiting support from colleagues.
Constituent stories are incredibly powerful - if you have a personal story about how a bill affects you and your family, your MoC wants to hear it!
It’s not just votes on bills - we want our MoCs to be bold and advance our issues on and off the floor. Our calls give the MoC the political coverage to take risks: to write letters, call for investigations, ask for subpoenas, hold rallies, and drive press coverage. Think of the Jeff Merkley filibuster Gorsuch and fighting for children separated from their families on his trips to the border. Or Ron Wyden calling out data companies and pushing for Trump’s taxes. Could they do these things without our calls of support? It would be a lot harder.
Your calls can change the agenda. In 2018 Indivisible Oregon focused on the First Step Act, a criminal justice reform bill. It wasn’t getting a lot of press coverage, but we called about it. We later learned that our calls gave support to Wyden’s DC staff working on the bill.
The bottom line:
Our MoCs want us to call. Senator Wyden’s and Senator Merkley’s staff have asked us repeatedly to call. They want to know what we think and what our personal stories are. They can’t do their jobs well without us.
Calling your MoC is a way to participate in our democracy. Please know that you are not calling alone. There is an army of us calling. And together each call is moving us forward - towards our goals; towards our future. A future that will be better and bright.
See also:
The New Yorker: What Calling Congress Achieves
New York Times: Here’s Why You Should Call, Not Email, Your Legislators
Captain’s Guide
How to set up up and run a Call Squad
You have a lot of freedom to decide how to run your team - see what strategies work best for you. You could incorporate funny GIFs, postcard parties, social events, or even a little friendly competition. Feel free to get creative!
Recruit your team:
Invite friends, family, friends of friends
Groups of 4-8 work well
Welcome your team:
Send an introduction email to all callers with basic information about the calling program, including the Caller’s Guide and the Why Should You Call document.
Introduce yourself to any team members you do not know. Share a sentence or two about yourself, and tell your team why YOU care about calling Congress.
Set expectations. Explain how you plan to communicate with the team and how often. Some squads may like an active group text with updates every time someone calls; others might prefer a daily or weekly email from the group leader with updates about the team calls all in one place. You’re the captain, so you set the tone!
Invite callers to introduce themselves and share their personal calling goals. The minimum recommendation for calling is once a week - and more calls are always better! Setting a personal goal and trying to meet it can help keep you and your callers motivated.
Include a link to the Daily Action
Give your squad a name (optional):
This can be a team effort, if you’d like. But don’t strain yourself to be clever. A team name can help build community.
Remind your squad to call, and build enthusiasm.
Text or email your team with a calling reminder at least once a week, or as often as every day. Keep the tone enthusiastic and fun. You can share something about that day’s ask, number of calls your team made recently, or your experience calling.
Sample message:
Subject: Today’s call - PASS BIDEN’S PANDEMIC PLAN
This morning I called while I was walking my dog, super quick and easy. Use REPLY ALL to let us know when you call so we can support one another.
As always, scripts are at indivisibleor.org/actions. Let’s go, team - we need to keep up the pressure!
Record call totals for each week (optional):
Tracking progress is another way to build community and to motivate the team. Daily Action
Caller’s Guide
Why are we forming these squads?
The fact is, Members of Congress (MoCs) pay attention to constituent calls. Our calls help them to gauge support for an issue. If our elected representatives agree with us, calls strengthen their resolve and give them data for convincing their colleagues. If they don’t agree with us, then calls help them to see how much trouble their position may cause them.
Unfortunately, many of us find that it’s hard to stay motivated to keep calling week after week. Call squads are a way to create community and accountability so that we can keep the pressure on. Working together in squads, we can boost the number of callers, the number of calls, and ultimately our impact on Congress.
Your commitment:
At least once a week, call your three Members of Congress (MoCs) - your two Senators and your Congressional Representative. Daily action prompts with background information and sample scripts are posted each weekday on our website at indivisibleOR.org/actions. Feel free to adapt the scripts and make the message your own!
Report your calls to your captain and your team. Each team can decide how to report in: weekly, daily, or only when calls are made; by email, phone call, or text. You’ll be amazed how quickly the calls add up when we are all working together.
That’s it! Calls are quick and easy, especially when you make them a habit. They take about five minutes: two to read the script, two to make the calls, one to post your results to your captain. And you can do them at any time; you can always leave a voicemail if it’s after hours.