You and your team will hit the halls of Congress for your full day of congressional meetings. In downtime, you can explore the Capitol, grab lunch in a congressional cafeteria, or rest your legs in a coffee shop.
What to expect
You and your team will typically have between four to six meetings throughout the day, though in rare cases some teams may only have three meetings or as many as seven meetings. The meetings may be in-person or virtual, although APS will request in-person whenever possible. If you have virtual meetings scheduled in the middle of the day, we recommend stopping in a hallway or cafeteria on the Hill and bringing a phone or laptop with internet access, as well as headphones.
When meeting with allied congressional offices, please thank them for supporting APS policy priorities and use the meeting to take their support further, perhaps by asking them to co-sponsor or introduce legislation or to advocate APS policy priorities to their colleagues. You can also ask what additional information might persuade hesitant officials or learn if there are other offices APS should approach.
When meeting with congressional offices that have not supported or even opposed APS policy priorities, you should still feel confident in advocating for the physics community as a constituent. You can expect congressional staff to treat you with courtesy and respect, and many of APS's priority issues have bipartisan support. Your elected officials may surprise you!