You can find contact information for your elected officials here. Do remember they have office hours, though voicemails are also things.

INTRO
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Hi, my name is ____ and I am a constituent of Congressman/Senator _____.

I’d like to speak with a staffer or aide concerning ____.

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BAN OF REFUGEES/CERTAIN PEOPLE

The president’s order banning entry of individuals from Iran, Iraq, Lybia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen is unreasonable and unnecessary. There have been no cases in recent years where emigrants of these countries have caused terrorist attacks.

Currently, the process for allowing refugees into our country is arduous, stringent, and extensive. There is no evidence cases where the process has in anyway fail. Allowing Christian refugees in first shows the president’s bias and is unconstitutional as it does not demonstrate freedom of religion.

This ban stops regular people with their own lives from entering the country: students, employees, people visiting family, and other legal visa holders. We are sending an unwelcoming message to the world by not allowing people with extremely valid reasons to visit to enter our country.

I urge Senator/Congressperson ____ to put pressure on the president or to work on legislation that will allow those with visas, including refugees, to freely come and go from our country.

(sources/further reading: New York Times, Cato Institute)

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

I am astounded by the way our president has taken a gag order far beyond common practice by removing certain posts on social media relating to climate change. I am scared by the way our president is showing no concern over the state of the environment in our world. I ask your office to protect Americans.

Climate change is science-backed and extremely real. It has many negative effects on our world today. We need to reduce greenhouse gas and carbon emissions. We need to protect clean air and clean water. We need to move towards renewable energies. We need to conserve our national parks, our farmlands, and our beautiful country.

I beg Senator/Congressperson ____ to work to increase climate change policy and to work with legislation that will protect our environment. I beg him/her to work against pipelines that threaten our access to clean water. I beg him/her to fight not only for me and my fellow citizens, but for the generations of Americans that will come after us.

(sources/further reading: New York Times, Environmental Protection Agency itself)

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AFFORDABLE CARE ACT

The Affordable Care Act allows millions of uninsured people to have high-quality health ensurance. It protects ALL Americans, not just the healthy and young ones. It ensures that people have lots of options for high quality medical care and doesn’t discriminate against people with pre-existing medical conditions.

It also allows people to comapre plans. It increases transparency and gives more information to the people. Healthcare is confusing enough, but the ACA at least gives people more knowledge about what they’re choosing and gives them more options through employers.

This bill has been upheld by the Supreme Court. It’s incredibly similar to a health care plan initially created by a Republican governor, Mitt Romney. It works to protect people from exorbitant fees for medications. It actively keeps American citizens alive.

I ask Senator/Congressperson ____ to work against the repeal of the Affordable Care Act and to ensure the health and wellbeing of all Americans.

(sources/further reading: Forbes, Bustle)

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OPPOSITION TO THE APPOINTMENT FOR U.S. SECRETARY OF EDUCATION

Betsy DeVos has no experience with public schools. She did not go to one. Her children did not go to them. Her career has focused on lobbying and raising money to actively oppose public schools.

DeVos wants to focus on funding religious and private schools. As our students are not guaranteed admission or equal treatment at these schools, this actively works against our students.

She has admitted that she expects to have an influence because of the large sums of money she is able to donate. She has no experience in such a post and will be incomptent and unable to handle the demands of the job. This will lead to future cabinet appointments also being people with no qualifications

I implore you to vote against the appointment of Betsy DeVos.

(sources/further reading: US News, New Yorker)

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Add a personal ancedote if you can! Say something that they’ll remember, even when they’ve forgotten your name. Say something that, when they go home, they’ll feel compelled to tell their family about.

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That super witty and well researched Facebook status you just posted? Call your Congresspeople and read it to them so they get the message, too.

Bustle recently posted a great article regarding calling your representatives about Trump’s refugee ban. The Million Letter March argues that personal letters are effective.

Here is a more extensive site for scripts on a variety of topics.

I’m currently interning for a Maryland assemblyman and I can speak personally to the impact that calling or writing snail mail letters has. We get a lot of emails that were obviously sent through forms, so we reply with our own form. A physical letter that garners a physical response takes much more time, and phone calls are the absolute worst to field. So I implore you to call your Congresspeople and to write letters. Do be nice to the staffers though!

I’m in my third year working for a call center, but making phone calls still makes me nervous. So I thought I’d put together various scripts I use. It still might be nervewracking, but hey, our entire world state is pretty nervewracking right now.

Abroad? Buy Skype credit. Got no money on your phone? Dig a little further on their websites; they all have 800 numbers.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions/things to add! I’ll be using these crutches extensively and the more powerful the better.