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Capital Hill Appointments

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Charter Bus Transportation from the Hotel to Capitol Hill

  • A Charter Bus will be provided Wednesday morning from the hotel to Capital Hill.
  • Throughout the day on Wednesday and transportation back to the hotel or to the airport is on your own.

Advocacy Day on Capitol Hill

Wednesday will be a full, tiring and invigorating day. We recommend that you not spend Tuesday night “on the town” but rather that you have an early dinner and spend some additional time reading the training materials and preparing for your meetings.

Wednesday will begin early. We will be assembling on the steps of the Capitol for a group picture with Representative Gregg Harper at 7:45AM sharp.

  • To assure that we are at the Capitol by 7:45AM you’ll need to be out of your hotel room, checked out of the hotel, have your luggage secured with a bellman and ready to board the bus not later than 6:30AM, unless you are staying an additional day. Shuttle buses will be loading at 6:45am with a 7am departure.
  • After the group photo we’ll proceed through security (please don’t bring water or food or anything that you’d expect to give you trouble at an airport) into the Capitol Building. You can bring a camera but you will not be able to bring your camera, coat, bag or purse onto the Floor of the House Chamber. You’ll have to leave these things in the hallway outside the chamber but there are security guards and the area is not open to the public at this time.
  • You’ll be able to take any seat in the Chamber (this is where the President gives his state of the Union Address) and our group will be addressed by Rep. Gregg Harper and possibly other Members of Congress. After a short address from Rep Harper, he will lead a short tour of the Capitol Building and at this time you’ll be able to take photos. You’ll have your schedule of meetings and each advocate will be responsible to know when their first meeting is and to leave the Capitol in enough time to get to your first meeting (you’ll need to leave yourself about 20-25 minutes to walk from the Capitol and then to clear security into the building where you have your first meeting. There will be groups walking together from the Capitol to the office buildings where Members of Congress have their offices.
  • Being on time to your meetings is VERY IMPORTANT. We will have scheduled your meetings giving you enough time to get from one meeting to the next (but sometimes you may have to hustle). Every building you’ll be going into does have security and this will be a busy time of year so there will likely be lines to clear security.
    • There are different office buildings for members of the House and for members of the Senate. The Senate office buildings are Russell, Dirkson and Hart and the House office buildings are Cannon, Longworth and Rayburn. Each group of three buildings is located on opposite sides of the Capitol Building. To see a map of the entire Capitol complex and get an idea where the buildings are situated in relation to each other follow this link: http://www.aoc.gov/cc/cc_map_entrances.cfm Print out a copy and bring it with you.
    • When you are going from one House office building to another House office building (or from one Senate OB to another) you can walk. You can also walk from the House side to the Senate side but if your feet hurt, the weather is bad, or time is tight you may need to take a cab. Cabs are always waiting outside of all of the buildings and the cost from the House to the Senate side or vice-versa should be no more than $10 with a tip. Advocates are almost always traveling in groups and most usually take turns paying for cabs.
    • Your meetings may be scheduled throughout the afternoon until as late as 5:30pm. Most of you will have to then head right back to the airport. When you get your schedules on Tuesday you’ll know when your last meeting is scheduled and how much time you’ll have to get to the airport. Most advocates leave their luggage at the hotel with the bellman and have to stop at the hotel on the way to the airport to pick it up. We do not recommend that you bring your suitcase with you throughout the day. Once you know how much time you have you can decide whether to take a cab to the airport or some other mode of transportation (METRO to DCA or MARC Train from Union Station to BWI)