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Did you know that out of the nearly 7,000 bills and joint resolutions introduced each congressional session, less than five percent get enacted into law?
The need for grassroots advocacy involvement cannot be overstated. Through constituent letters, phone calls, and face-to-face meetings, legislators learn what’s important to the people back home and why they should pay attention to certain issues. They rely heavily on the expressed views of their constituents and information provided by experts such as you. If you have not done so recently, please take advantage of our easy-to-use eAdvocacy tool, and follow that up with a phone call to your representatives and senators. Together, we can and will make a difference in protecting and enhancing podiatric medicine.
There are myriad issues, competing interests, time constraints, and procedural processes that affect the number of bills making it through the legislative process and the attention span of members of Congress and their staff. During every session of Congress, elected officials consider bills and making decisions on hundreds of issues ranging from health care to communications, from foreign policy to transportation to education, and more.
APMA’s lobbying team works each and every week to assess the many competing issues facing policy makers and to create the proper focus and context to advocate for APMA’s legislative priorities. Our lobbyists bring arguments for or against a specific measure directly to legislators and government officials.
But elected officials need more than compelling arguments and sound policy ideas to influence their decisions on many issues. They want to know what is important to their local communities back home.
For this they depend on their constituents—the voters in their state or district—to let them know how federal policy affects their local community. Knowing and being responsive to the needs and concerns of the voters—the grassroots—is their top priority. Paying attention to constituents' concerns is what got them elected and will help get them re-elected.
For this reason, it is important for all APMA members to be involved in grassroots advocacy. No matter how involved you are as an individual, greater influence and impact are gained when large numbers of constituents speak with one voice to push their elected officials.