Why You Should Call Congress

I hate phone calls. Making doctor’s appointments and ordering pizza gives me hives. My voice rises a full octave and I suddenly lose all control of the English language. I eagerly await the day when phone calls go completely extinct as opposed to their current endangered status. Now, a lot could be said about this phenomena being a symptom of my generation, but that is for a different article.

Like many other college students, I have a summer internship. My internship is with The Borgen Project, a nonprofit organization that advocates on behalf of the world’s poor. As part of this internship, I am required to call my representatives once a week to support various poverty reducing bills. The first time I did it required three minutes of power posing while listening to Kesha’s Woman. The person on the other end of the line surprised me. Maybe I watch too much West Wing, but the very distinct voice of an uncomfortable college student was not what I was expecting. I gave my name, zip code, and the name of the bill I wanted my representative to support. The staffer on the other end thanked me, my issue got added to a call log, and we hung up. There was no quiz, no requests to donate, and the whole thing lasted maybe forty five seconds.

So, what was the point of all that? Thankfully, the Borgen project gave me some guidance. Each week, our leaders receive a call report, the tally of how many people called in about various issues. The Borgen Project suggests that it can take as few as as 7-10 people calling to get a representative to support it. Why so few?

Everyone hates phone calls and a lot of people hate Congress (even if they like their own representatives). As a result, relatively few people call their representatives. That means that every call matters. Representatives want to keep their constituents happy and if you and your friends let your representatives know that something is important to you, chances are they will take notice.

Schoolhouse Rock taught us that it’s tricky for a bill to become a law, but each and every one of us can help bills we care about pass. Tell your representatives to prioritize what matters to you. That’s how democracy is supposed to work. If you are more cynical than that, midterms are coming up, so representatives definitely want to shore up support in their districts. Take advantage in order to do some good.

Will I ever enjoy making doctor’s appointments? Probably not. Do I find a kind of sincere productive satisfaction during my weekly calls to Congress? Definitely.

To learn more about calling Congress and find bills that could help reduce global poverty go to https://borgenproject.org.