Many of you have participated in CRA Congressional Visit Days in Washington, DC either in the spring or fall. While these are incredibly important tools, there are other ways for you to meet your Congressman and Senators and let them know how important federal research money is to your district and state.

Every year Congress recesses for a week or more at a time so that members may meet with constituents in their districts. These visits are a great opportunity to meet one-on-one with your representative, usually in an environment that's more low-key and less chaotic than similar meetings in DC. It is fairly easy to set up an appointment during on of these recess periods although it usually needs to be done months in advance as schedules fill up quickly.

To find out who your Representative is visit Write Your Representative. The contact information for the offices within a district is listed on each Representative's web site. If you need assistance making district appointments, please contact Melissa Norr at CRA's government affairs office for assistance. It's also a good idea to keep your institution's federal affairs staff informed about your meeting.

Advocacy Resources

• 2007 Senate Recess Calendar (pdf)

• 2007 House Recess Calendar (pdf)

• Quick Tips for Effective Communications with Congress

• Guidelines for Hosting Campus Visits from Members of Congress and Staff (pdf)

At this time the House of Representatives calendar for 2007 has not been published. Once it is available, we will provide the information here for you.

One-Pagers & Handouts

• Information Technology R&D Funding (pdf) - one-pager
• DARPA and University Research (pdf) - one-pager
• Cyber Security R&D Funding (pdf) - one-pager
• Current Funding Picture (pdf) - two charts showing the current status of funding for federal IT R&D and the President's FY 2005 requested amounts

• Expanding the Federal Investment in Information Technology Research (.pdf) — CRA Policy Brief

• The National Investment in Information Technology R&D (.pdf) — CRA Policy Brief

• Information Technology Research: Meeting the Challenges of the 21st Century (.pdf) — CRA Policy Brief

• The PITAC Final Report (.pdf) — CRA Fact Sheet

• Computing Research: A National Investment for Leadership in the 21st Century
  CRA booklet of case studies by industry leaders illustrating how multi-billion-dollar industries have been created by modest federal investments in fundamental research in information technology.