Thousands of you have answered the call to join MOAA’s Summer Advocacy in Action (AiA) campaign since it launched a few short weeks ago. So first, let me thank all of you for your ongoing commitment to MOAA’s advocacy mission: It is because of you that our voice in the halls of Congress carries the impact it does.

[LEARN MORE: MOAA.org/SummerAiA]

Where We Stand

More of you are logging into the Legislative Action Center every day, picking up the issues we put in front of you this summer, and sending them straight to your lawmakers’ desks:

• The Major Richard Star Act
• Adding military spouses to the Work Opportunity Tax Credit
• Restoring TRICARE For Life coverage of GLP-1 medications

That adds up to 8,251 messages sent to Congress as of Aug. 24, backed by over 20 meetings with congressional offices this campaign. Every one of those channels matters. A message tells your lawmaker where you stand as their constituent, and a meeting lets you make the case directly.

I’ve been doing this work long enough to know that Congress pays attention when the calls, emails, letters, and meetings keep coming. Every message strengthens the case. Every meeting puts a face and a story behind the issue.

We still have work ahead, and we need every voice, every story, and every effort to carry us across the finish line.

What’s at Stake

We’re in the closing months of the 119th Congress. When this Congress ends, any bill that hasn’t crossed the finish line doesn’t carry over. It doesn’t pause and pick back up next year. It dies, and whoever takes up these issues again next Congress has to start over: reintroduce the bill, rebuild cosponsor lists, work back into the queue for markup and floor time. Years of work, gone in an instant, simply because the clock ran out.

That’s what’s at stake right now. Real progress is possible for our Summer AiA issues this year, but only if the constituent pressure holds. The legislative vehicles carrying these issues forward cannot afford to stall, and neither can we. Every message and every meeting you generate over these next few months keeps these issues moving.

What I’m Asking of You

Two things, and neither will take you long:

• Head to MOAA’s Legislative Action Center. Register if you haven’t already (it takes about two minutes) and once you’re in, send this summer’s three Advocacy in Action messages to your lawmakers. If you’ve already sent one or two, finish the set.
  
  
• Share this message with your community. Tell your friends, your family, and your fellow advocates. The more of us who show up, the harder we are to ignore.