Oct 07 2011
Congress Adapting to Increasing Communications from Constituents
Congressional offices are receiving more constituent mail than ever, and reallocating staff resources to deal with the increasing volume according to a new report out this week from the Congressional Management Foundation.
The report, entitled “How Citizen Advocacy is Changing Mail Operations on Capitol Hill”, is part of CMF’s “Communicating with Congress” series and identifies some significant trends in constituent communications, including a continued rise in the number of messages sent by constituents to lawmakers on Capitol Hill and how offices are dealing with this increase in communication volume.
Among the report’s key findings:
- Mail volume in congressional offices continues to increase exponentially.
- Congressional offices are using email to reply to constituent email.
- Constituent communications are consuming more time from congressional offices.
- Constituent mail is taking a significant amount of time to respond to whether or not there is a prepared text available.
What does all this mean for the average Key Contact? Increasing constituent mail can be considered a positive thing – more citizens are engaging their elected officials on issues. However, it means that it is more important than ever to concentrate on your message to be sure yours rises to the top above all the other loads of “form letters” your lawmakers’ offices receive. ASCE members who use our Click & Connect with Congress advocacy website should take the time to add your own personal perspective as a civil engineer and resident of your region or state to the form messages that ASCE provides. This provides information your lawmaker can’t get anywhere else, and will help distinguish your message from the rest.
As the volume of constituent communications continues to rise, Congressional budgets are being squeezed, just like all other parts of government (and much of the private sector as well.) This means responding to communications will only get more challenging for Congressional offices with limited staff, and response times may lengthen. Key Contacts should be patient, but persistent, when communicating with their lawmakers.
4 responses so far
So – today the Occupy Boston protestors took a big sign that said “fix this bridge and create jobs” to put on the Charlestown Bridge.
Rachel Maddow reported that the police gave as a reason that the protestors couldn’t go on the bridge as a large group – was that “the bridge wasn’t strong enough to take their weight.”!!! This supported ASCE concerns about infrastructure. This is grass roots feedback….
Has ASCE inspected this bridge? Why isn’t it shut down if it can’t carry the protestors weight but carries a great amount of traffic each day?
Comment is above.
Elaine,
I can’t speak to the specifics of the Charlestown Bridge and ASCE as an organization does not conduct not inspect bridges.
However, the sign you refer to is absolutely correct. Infrastructure investment is a great way to increase employment (construction unemployment is over 20%) and address our nation’s issue of aging infrastructure. Whether its roads, bridges, water, sewer, locks or dams, we have been taking our infrastructure for granted for too long. The deferred maintenance of yesterday is costing us greatly today.
This will be great