LOBBYING CONGRESS:
A KEY WAY U.S. CITIZENS IMPACT FOREIGN POLICY
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Lobbying is "a necessary and integral aspect of the U.S. legislative process," says Audrae Erickson, Director of Governmental Relations for International Trade Policy at the American Farm Bureau Federation and Chair of the Seattle Round Agricultural Committee. "It ensures that the rights and concerns of U.S. citizens are taken into account before a bill becomes law," she says. |
Citizen participation in the legislative process is one of the cornerstones of the U.S. democratic system. From electing members of Congress who support their policy positions to writing a letter to the U.S. president, U.S. citizens directly influence the decisions of foreign policy-makers.
This influence is compounded when individuals band together for a common cause and form special interest groups. There are several thousand such groups in the United States advocating policy positions on a wide range of issues. Currently, more than 3,700 special interest groups are registered to lobby members of Congress and the administration. Some of the most influential of them can mobilize hundreds of thousands of voters for their cause. And the groups that demonstrate the ability to carry out skilled and active grassroots campaigns wield significant influence in Washington, D.C.
The Power of the Constituent Voice
Members of Congress recognize that their primary responsibility is to please the constituents who elected them to public office. To do that, they must cast legislative votes that are largely reflective of their constituents' concerns or be prepared to justify an unpopular vote when it comes time for re-election.
Although elected representatives are frequently directed by the leadership of the House of Representatives and the Senate to vote along party lines, they nonetheless pay great attention to public opinion polls and the views of the voters in their district or state. Elected representatives place tremendous importance on the policy positions expressed in constituent letters, telephone calls, e-mail messages, and personal meetings. For every individual who places a telephone call or writes a letter to his elected official, it is widely assumed that as many as 10 additional voting citizens support that same position. Thus the effect of one act of lobbying can be magnified at least ten-fold. If a member of Congress receives a significant number of constituent responses on an issue, and his party leadership asks him to vote in opposition to these responses, it is often the voice of the constituents that sways the final vote.
Constituents can increase their influence by joining a special interest group or national association. As members of a national association, they participate in its internal policy-making process and rely on the organization's elected officials or professional staff to lobby Congress on their behalf. Thus one lobbyist for such an association speaks for many when representing policy positions before Congress.
The impact of this approach is magnified when national associations join together to form coalitions that speak with one voice on policy matters, making it difficult for their views to be ignored. Coalition letters are a mainstay in Washington and provide a quick and effective means for like-minded organizations to demonstrate widespread support for a policy position.
Effective Foreign Policy Lobbying
The most successful foreign affairs lobbyists are those who establish themselves as experts on specific policy matters, create well-crafted messages to articulate why a member of Congress should vote a certain way, and maintain close working relationships with key members -- including relevant committee chairmen and the leadership in the Senate and House of Representatives -- and with their staffs.
"Expert" lobbyists are pivotal in the Washington lobbying process. Members of Congress and their staffs, administration officials, foreign officials, and even other lobbyists seek their advice, and in the process, the experts gather additional information that serves to reinforce their expertise. An expert's influence is magnified accordingly if the organization he or she represents demonstrates an ability to amass sizeable grassroots responses on specific policy matters.
Expert lobbyists must have access to the most recent information in their subject areas. Relevant information can be gathered through media reports, networking with members of Congress or the administration, meeting with representatives of foreign countries and other foreign policy lobbyists, reading publications that specialize in foreign policy issues, and attending professional seminars and conferences.
The most credible of these lobbyists have specialized career backgrounds from which they draw their expertise. Above all else, successful foreign affairs lobbyists make an art form of networking with influential people and utilizing each contact to their advantage.
Lobbying on a Specific Foreign Policy Issue
One lobbying group that wields tremendous grassroots influence is the American Farm Bureau Federation. Founded in 1919, the Farm Bureau is the largest agricultural organization in the United States. With more than 4.9 million member families in the 50 U.S. states and Puerto Rico, Farm Bureau members produce every commodity grown in the nation. The Farm Bureau's ability to mobilize grassroots support on domestic and international issues that affect agriculture has earned it widespread recognition as a national voice for U.S. farmers and ranchers.
The Farm Bureau plays an important role in lobbying for passage of foreign policy legislation that has a direct bearing on agriculture, including extension of Normal Trade Relations (NTR) status for China. The U.S. Congress has granted NTR status -- the same trade preferences that it gives to other nations -- to China on an annual basis. The sixth largest market for U.S. agricultural exports, China reciprocates by keeping its market open to U.S. exports. Denial of NTR status would seriously jeopardize the U.S.-China trading relationship. Widely viewed as an economic matter, annual passage of NTR for China has foreign policy significance.
U.S. engagement with China has been at the forefront of the U.S. foreign policy agenda with Asia since President Nixon re-established diplomatic ties with China nearly 30 years ago. The U.S.-China relationship subsequently became the subject of annual debate in Washington during congressional deliberations on whether to confer trade benefits to it. Although the Senate consistently agrees with the president to renew NTR, there is generally a resolution introduced in the House of Representatives to deny U.S. trading privileges to China.
What should be a debate on the merits of keeping two-way trade flowing between China and the United States becomes a debate on non-trade issues of tremendous significance on the foreign policy front. Some members of Congress, reflecting the views of constituency groups who are opposed to extending preferential trade treatment to China, cite, as reasons for denying NTR status, human rights issues, alleged espionage of U.S. nuclear weapon technology, allegations of illegal campaign financing, and China's long-standing political strife with Tibet and Taiwan.
Special interest groups greatly influence the annual China debate in the U.S. Congress. Some groups believe strongly that China should be penalized for its actions on the non-trade front and therefore advocate denying NTR to China. Others believe that engagement through trade is a viable means to foster democratic reform in China and therefore support NTR renewal. Both views dominate media reports for the 60 days during which the House deliberates on this issue, yet the debate consistently ends with an affirmative vote in the House to maintain normalized trade with China. In 1999, the vote sailed through the House with a margin of 260-170 in favor of NTR extension.
Hoping to sway the final vote on NTR in their favor, agriculture and business groups flood members of the House with telephone calls, e-mail messages, constituent and coalition letters, and specialized briefings for congressional members and their staffs to educate them further on the benefits of passage.
The Farm Bureau annually mobilizes its grassroots membership in support of normalized trade with China. In addition to constituent telephone calls, coalition letters, and meetings with House members in their Washington, D.C., and district offices, the Farm Bureau boosts membership participation by establishing automated services that facilitate the letter-writing and telephone-calling campaign. For example, an automated toll free number is established that, when called by a Farm Bureau member, will generate a personalized letter to that member's representative extolling the virtues of extending NTR to China. Moreover, the Farm Bureau solicits its key members throughout the country to make personal contact with targeted representatives who have not yet confirmed their support for NTR passage.
This year, the stakes for trade engagement with China are even higher. The United States and China have concluded bilateral trade negotiations for China's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in which China has agreed to significantly open its market to agricultural imports. This agreement paves the way to an increasingly valuable trade relationship with China for U.S. farmers and ranchers.
In order to benefit from China's accession agreement, WTO rules require that the United States grant unconditional NTR to China on a permanent basis. The Farm Bureau, along with other agricultural and business organizations, has galvanized its members to secure congressional support for permanent NTR. However, certain special interest groups oppose China's membership in the WTO and are preparing to wage a massive campaign for its defeat. Their strategy for amassing grassroots opposition is expected to be matched by an intensive campaign by those groups that support its passage.
Congressional consideration of permanent NTR for China will test the lobbying skills and tactics of advocates on both sides of the debate. Each side will place great emphasis on its respective lobbying activities to communicate the stakes at issue.
Lobbying is a necessary and integral aspect of the U.S. legislative process. It ensures that the rights and concerns of U.S. citizens are taken into account before a bill becomes law. It gives a voice to the constituent in that process and thereby ensures that the principles of our democracy are upheld.