There are four ways to  send a message to Congress.

• The easiest is to use the “contact your congressmembers”  links that appear in the advocacy articles in the MOAA weekly Newsletter or on the Advocacy News page on the MOAA website. Those messages can be edited before you “submit” to add a personal note.
• A second way is to go your Senators’  or Congressperson’s website and follow the links from the “contact me” page. You can type your message in directly or paste it in from another document.
• The third way is to call the DC office to convey your message/request; call the district office to do the same, or send a snail mail to the District office(s). The processing of incoming mail to Capitol Hill goes through several screenings before it is delivered to the members. Regular mail to a district office is opened every day, and if it is addressed to the member it is faxed to the DC office usually the same day.
• If you have the email address of a congressperson’s staff  member you can send the same messages as were sent using the other methods to that person. It will get to the congressperson. You could include some background info to help the staffer put your message into context.

You may need to be persistent in order to get a response.

Don’t accept the standard reply of “I’ll consider it” or “I’ll wait until the Armed Services Committee takes a position on it.” Send a follow-up letter or make a follow-up call or visit to let legislators know MOAA chapter members — their constituents — want them to take a co-sponsorship position, or help influence a committee’s action, or vote in favor of a Bill or Resolution.  It might take several  attempts to finally bring your request to closure.