Hello,

Thank you to everyone who joined the policy update call held on last Thursday. As a follow-up to that disucssion and for those who were unable to join, I am sending template letters that you can use to reach out to new and returning Members of Congress to introduce your DD Council. Congress is now in recess until the 115th Congress begins on January 3rd, so this is an excellent time to reach out and begin the process of getting to know your Members of Congress and their staff. Many of the staff are still in their offices this week and next, and it is relatively quiet for them.

Please consider taking a few minutes to call or send letters to introduce or re-introduce the DD Council to Congressional offices, so they know you are a resource for them as we head to a very busy January. NACDD will be needing your help to educate and inform them on many issues in the 115th Congress.

All offices can be reached by calling the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121. Also, most personal office staff in the House of Representatives have email addresses in the form of first xxxxxx@mail.house.gov and in the Senate have the form of xxxxxx@senatorlastname.senate.gov. Given that every office assigns the portfolio of issues we work on differently, you may want to inquire on who works on issues such as education, healthcare and employment. It is not uncommon to work with multiple staffers in one office.

Contact information for members of the House of Representatives can also be accessed at http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/ and in the Senate at http://www.senate.gov/senators/contact/ (unfortunately, this list had not yet been updated to reflect the 115th Congress yet). Also, all members maintain their own websites for their offices and have their own office procedures for how to best contact them to share information and resources. If you are from a large state, I am more than happy to help to try to prioritize members to reach out to based on what we know about Committee assignments so far.

While leadership for many Committees was announced before the recess, Committee membership will not be finalized until January. When assignments are final, I will send out an email with this information so that you have it available. Many of these Members will be critical to our work on key issues given their ability to influence the legislation through the Committee process.

Thank you for your help. As always, more than happy to answer any questions.

Regards,

Cindy Smith, MS, CAS, JD

Director of Public Policy

National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities

1825 K Street, NW Suite 600

Washington, DC 20006

202-506-5813 ext 104

xxxxxx@nacdd.org