The POPVOX Blog

  1. Today's Bill Picks: 7/29/11

    by rachna on July 28, 2011

    Here are my bill picks (as I explained in an earlier post ). Let me know if you have a suggestion that might be of interest to POPVOX users. Send me an email at rachna@popvox.com.
    _________________________________

    Today's Bill Picks

    • Bullying Prevention and Intervention Act (HR 83) requires the Attorney General to establish guidelines to prevent occurrences of bullying, provides for grant funding to States for programs to prevent occurrences of bullying, and reauthorizes the Juvenile Accountability Block Grants program

    POPVOX User Pick

    A POPVOX user asked me to highlight this bill:

    POPVOX Updates

    FastCompany highlighted POPVOX in an article, "How You Can Help Netflix Integrate with Facebook in the U.S." Many of you had asked for the "Today's Bill Picks" to be emailed to you. We're trying out a new service that will send these updates to your email. Get started here . Harness the power of POPVOX on your own organization or blog website! Learn more at www.popvox.com/organization -- and please let the associations, organizations, blogs and community groups you're involved with know as well.

    _________________________________

    Please keep in mind that highlighting a bill doesn’t imply an endorsement in any way. Rather, we’re simply trying to offer one more way to stay informed of an overwhelmingly complex legislative system. (Another way is to check out the  “Trending Bills of the Week” .)

  2. Fast Company--How You Can Help Netflix Integrate With Facebook In The U.S.

    by annalee on July 28, 2011

    How You Can Help Netflix Integrate With Facebook In The U.S. in Fast Company

  3. Today's Bill Picks: 7/28/11

    by rachna on July 27, 2011

    Here are my bill picks (as I explained in an earlier post ). Let me know if you have a suggestion that might be of interest to POPVOX users. Send me an email at rachna@popvox.com.
    _________________________________

    Today's Bill Picks

    • Breast Cancer Patient Equity Act (HR 2233) amends title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide coverage for custom fabricated breast prostheses following a mastectomy
    • HR 2471 clarifies that a video tape service provider may obtain a consumer’s informed, written consent on an ongoing basis and that consent may be obtained through the Internet
    • Ensuring Pay for our Military Act (HR 1297) ensures that members of the Armed Forces, including reserve components, continue to receive pay and allowances for active service performed when a funding gap occurs

    POPVOX User Pick

    Thanks to a POPVOX user, I was alerted to this bill:

    • Armed Forces Suicide Prevention Act (HR 1284) enhances the suicide prevention program of the Defense Dept by specifically requiring suicide prevention training during recruit basic training, pre-separation counseling, and mental health assessments

    POPVOX Updates

    Many of you had asked for the "Today's Bill Picks" to be emailed to you. We're trying out a new service that will send these updates to your email. Get started here . Harness the power of POPVOX on your own organization or blog website! Learn more at www.popvox.com/organization -- and please let the associations, organizations, blogs and community groups you're involved with know as well.

    _________________________________

    Please keep in mind that highlighting a bill doesn’t imply an endorsement in any way. Rather, we’re simply trying to offer one more way to stay informed of an overwhelmingly complex legislative system. (Another way is to check out the  “Trending Bills of the Week” .)

  4. Today's Bill Picks: 7/27/11

    by rachna on July 27, 2011

    Here are my bill picks (as I explained in an earlier post ). Let me know if you have a suggestion that might be of interest to POPVOX users. Send me an email at rachna@popvox.com.
    _________________________________

    Today's Bill Picks

    POPVOX User Pick

    Thanks to a POPVOX user, I was alerted to this bill:

    • Armed Forces Suicide Prevention Act (HR 1284) enhances the suicide prevention program of the Defense Dept by specifically requiring suicide prevention training during recruit basic training, pre-separation counseling, and mental health assessments

    POPVOX Updates

    Many of you had asked for the "Today's Bill Picks" to be emailed to you. We're trying out a new service that will send these updates to your email. Get started here . Harness the power of POPVOX on your own organization or blog website! Learn more at www.popvox.com/organization -- and please let the associations, organizations, blogs and community groups you're involved with know as well.

    _________________________________

    Please keep in mind that highlighting a bill doesn’t imply an endorsement in any way. Rather, we’re simply trying to offer one more way to stay informed of an overwhelmingly complex legislative system. (Another way is to check out the  “Trending Bills of the Week” .)

  5. Tech President--How To Reach Your Member of Congress Today, Online or Off

    by annalee on July 26, 2011

    How To Reach Your Member of Congress Today, Online or Off in Tech President

  6. The House Plan is a Senate Bill (What??)

    by marci on July 26, 2011

    The House Republican " Budget Control Act of 2011 " (the Boehner Plan) was released around midnight by the House Rules Committee (Rules Committee notice here ).

    Those who took a look would have noticed immediately that it is not a new bill. Rather, it is an "amendment in the nature of a substitute" to S. 627 , the Faster FOIA Act of 2011, which passed the Senate on May 26. Boehner's amendment takes this bill that passed the Senate, strikes all of the language of S. 627 after the "enacting clause" ( Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled) and inserts the new language of the "Budget Control Act of 2011".  In this way, S. 627 will be the "vehicle" for the Boehner plan.

    But why?

    The reasons are usually procedural and probably only a Parliamentarian could explain. My guess is that it has something to do with Senate calendar rules and allows the revised bill to be taken up more quickly in the Senate if it passes the House.  It's important to note that while it is confusing, it is not nefarious.  In this case, the decision probably had a lot to do with the looming default deadline.

    It's not that rare

    The " amendment in the nature of a substitute " is not actually that rare.  Committee chairmen frequently use this tactic in committee mark-ups to introduce a revised bill that incorporates (usually) technical or (sometimes) substantive changes that have come up in the time between bill introduction and markup.

    Even to replace an entire bill passed by another chamber?

    I'm not sure of the statistics on how often it happens. That would be an interesting study.  But again, it's more often than you might think.  I am most familiar with is the opposite, where the Senate amends a House bill in order to avoid a "blue-slip" problem, which I blogged here .  (Picking up a House vehicle allows the Senate to get around the Article 1 , Section 7 clause in the Constitution, which requires that all revenue-raising measures be initiated by the House.)

    How do I weigh in on POPVOX?

    We're working on it. Our system mirrors the Congressional bills with conventional numbers, so it is a technical challenge... stay tuned.

  7. Today's Bill Picks: 7/26/11

    by rachna on July 26, 2011

    Here are my bill picks (as I explained in an earlier post ). Let me know if you have a suggestion that might be of interest to POPVOX users. Send me an email at rachna@popvox.com.
    _________________________________

    Today's Bill Picks

    -- Hearing on the Fair Tax Act (HR 25) in the House Way & Means Committee. It's a good time to weigh in and "appreciate" others' comments!

    -- Veterans’ “Traumatic Brain Injury Rehabilitative Services” Improvements Act (HR 1855) improves the provision of rehabilitative services for veterans with traumatic brain injury (House Committee hearing today).

    -- Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (S 1301) authorizes appropriations for FY 2012 to 2015 for the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, which enhances measures to combat trafficking in person. It was recently introduced.

    -- Fort McClellan Health Registry Act (HR 2052) establishes a registry of certain veterans who were stationed at Fort McClellan, Alabama. The comments left by POPVOX users regarding the toxins are compelling. I hope you take a moment to read them and use our "appreciate" feature if you'd like!

    -- Drinking Water Right to Know Act (S 875) amends the Safe Drinking Water Act to require additional monitoring of certain contaminants.

    POPVOX User Alert

    -- Animal Fighting Spectator Prohibition Act (HR 2492) prohibits attendance of an animal fighting venture.

    POPVOX Updates

    -- Many of you had asked for the "Today's Bill Picks" to be emailed to you. We're trying out a new service that will send these updates to your email. Get started here .

    -- Introducing POPVOX tools for your organization's website. Learn more at www.popvox.com/organization -- and please let the associations, organizations, blogs and community groups you're involved with know as well.

    _________________________________

    Please keep in mind that highlighting a bill doesn’t imply an endorsement in any way. Rather, we’re simply trying to offer one more way to stay informed of an overwhelmingly complex legislative system. (Another way is to check out the  “Trending Bills of the Week” .)

  8. Today's Bill Picks: 7/25/11

    by rachna on July 24, 2011

    Here are my bill picks (as I explained in  an earlier post ). Let me know if you have a suggestion that might be of interest to POPVOX users. Send me an email at rachna@popvox.com.
    _________________________________

    Today's Bill Picks

    -- Hearing on the  Fair Tax Act (HR 25) in the House Way & Means Committee on Tuesday. It's a good time to weigh in and "appreciate" others' comments!

    --  HR 2261 withholds United States contributions to the United Nations if it supports the recognition of an independent Palestinian state.

    -- The  Second Amendment Protection Act (HR 2615) was just introduced. It restores the second amendment rights of all Americans.

    -- There are two discharge petitions circulating in the House on the  Ensuring Pay for our Military Act (HR 1297) and the  Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act (HR 639). To learn more about "discharge petitions," check out  Marci's blog post .

    --  HR 2001 prevents the payment of unemployment compensation to individuals discharged for drug or alcohol use.

    --  Animal Fighting Spectator Prohibition Act (HR 2492) prohibits attendance of an animal fighting venture.

    --  HR 2617 authorizes the Dept. of Education to make grants to promote the education of pregnant and parenting students.

    POPVOX User Alert

    -- The Cold War Service Medal Act provides for the award of a military service medal to members of the Armed Forces who served honorably during the Cold War ( S 402 and  HR 1968 ).

    POPVOX Update

    -- Introducing POPVOX tools for your organization's website. Learn more at  www.popvox.com/organization -- and help us spread the word!

    _________________________________

    Please keep in mind that highlighting a bill doesn’t imply an endorsement in any way. Rather, we’re simply trying to offer one more way to stay informed of an overwhelmingly complex legislative system. (Another way is to check out the  “Trending Bills of the Week” .)

  9. PRESS RELEASE: POPVOX Announces Integration With Salsa Labs Platform

    by annalee on July 22, 2011

    July 22, 2011, WASHINGTON, DC― POPVOX, the award-winning online platform that connects citizens with Congress, today announced seamless integration with the SALSA LABS organizing platform used by over 2,000 nonprofits, labor unions, and campaigns.

    Laura Byrd, Director of Marketing at Salsa Labs, said, “So many of our clients already use Salsa for their advocacy efforts, so we are excited to provide our clients with the new POPVOX tool that organizers can take advantage of within the structure of their existing Salsa dashboard.”

    The integration allows Salsa clients to embed a POPVOX “Write Congress” widget on their website to help their members weigh in on pending legislation. Since the tool is powered by POPVOX, constituent information is verified for Congressional offices, messages are aggregated publicly on the POPVOX.com website and individuals can track the delivery of their message to their legislators’ offices.

    “Integrating with customer relationship management and organizing platforms will make it even easier for organizations to add POPVOX to their arsenal of advocacy tools,” said Rachna Choudhry, Chief Marketing Officer of POPVOX. “We're fortunate to have an innovative partner in Salsa Labs to launch the integrated service.”

    For more information on POPVOX for organizations, visit: www.popvox.com/organization

    About POPVOX

    POPVOX is a neutral, nonpartisan advocacy platform that meshes legislative data with individuals’ personal stories and sentiment. POPVOX delivers public input to Congress in a format tailored to actionable policy decisions and empowers users to leverage their expertise and numbers. POPVOX provides a legislative dashboard for Congress and government affairs professionals with bill status information, customized tracking, bill-specific advocacy information, and real-time constituent sentiment and comments. For more information, visit: www.popvox.com

    About SALSA LABS

    Salsa Labs is the creator of the leading online platform for organizing and engaging people. In one easy-to-use, integrated, and flexible platform, groups of all sizes can manage their supporters, communicate, fundraise, advocate, host events, and more. Organizations can create their own unique recipe for organizing by choosing from the dozens of available software tools as well as by plugging in dozens of other applications produced by 3rd parties in the Salsa Market. Salsa’s software and services suite currently supports over 2,000 user groups’ relationships with over 40 million supporters, members, donors, activists, and fans all around the world.

  10. Today's Bill Picks: 7/22/11

    by rachna on July 21, 2011

    Here are my bill picks for the day (as I explained in  an earlier post ). Let me know if you have a suggestion that might be of interest to POPVOX users. Send me an email at rachna@popvox.com.

    _________________________________

    Today's Bill Picks: July 22

    -- The Senate will be voting on the  House's Cut, Cap and Balance Act , which cuts, caps and balances the Federal budget (HR 2560).

    -- H Res 348 expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that critical jobs legislation should be considered and passed to address the growing jobs crisis throughout America.

    -- The Administration just issued a statement on the  Consumer Financial Protection Safety and Soundness Improvement Act . The bill amends the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act to strengthen the review authority of the Financial Stability Oversight Council of regulations issued by the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection.  Read their position .

    -- Anti-Bullying and Harassment Act amends the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act to include bullying and harassment prevention programs (HR 975).

    --  HR 2600 provides for implementation of the National Pediatric Acquired Brain Injury Plan.

    -- 169 Members of Congress have signed the discharge petition regarding the Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act (HR 639). The bill clarifies that countervailing duties may be imposed to address subsidies relating to a fundamentally undervalued currency of any foreign country. 218 signatures on this petition would send this bill directly to the House floor for a vote. See if your Representative signed the petition .

    _________________________________

    Please keep in mind that highlighting a bill doesn’t imply an endorsement in any way. Rather, we’re simply trying to offer one more way to stay informed of an overwhelmingly complex legislative system. (Another way is to check out the  “Trending Bills of the Week” .)

  11. Today's Bill Picks: 7-21-11

    by rachna on July 20, 2011

    Here are my bill picks for the day (as I explained in  an earlier post ). Let me know if you have a suggestion that might be of interest to POPVOX users. Send me an email at rachna@popvox.com.

    _________________________________

    Today's Bill Picks: July 21

    -- The Senate begins considering the House's Cut, Cap and Balance Act , which cuts, caps and balances the Federal budget (HR 2560).

    -- The Fair Sentencing Clarification Act reduces sentences for certain cocaine base offenses retroactively for certain offenders (HR 2316).

    The Charitable Contribution Parity and Enhancement Act was just introduced (HR 2592). It amends the tax code to increase the limitation on the amount of charitable contributions of ordinary income property taken into account in determining the charitable contribution deduction for any trade or business.

    The Horse Transportation Safety Act prohibits the transportation of horses in interstate transportation in a motor vehicle containing two or more levels stacked on top of one another (S 1281).

    The Animal Fighting Spectator Prohibition Act would prohibit attendance of an animal fighting venture (HR 2492).

    _________________________________

    Please keep in mind that highlighting a bill doesn’t imply an endorsement in any way. Rather, we’re simply trying to offer one more way to stay informed of an overwhelmingly complex legislative system. (Another way is to check out the  “Trending Bills of the Week” .)

  12. Today's Bill Picks: 7/20/11

    by rachna on July 19, 2011

    Here are my bill picks for the day (as I explained in  an earlier post ). Let me know if you have a suggestion that might be of interest to POPVOX users. Send me an email at rachna@popvox.com.

    _________________________________

    Today's Bill Picks: July 20

    -- The Lyme & Tick-Borne Disease Prevention, Education & Research Act (HR 2557 and S 1381 ) (just introduced).

    -- HR 2569 would make the IRS's electronic "Free File" program permanent (just introduced).

    -- The Respect for Marriage Act (S 598) is the topic of tomorrow's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. The bill repeals the Defense of Marriage Act and ensures respect for State regulation of marriage.

    --  A discharge petition is being circulated on the Ensuring Pay for Our Military Act (HR 1297). With 218 signatures, the bill will go directly to the House floor for a vote. Thousands of POPVOX users weighed in on this bill, which would ensure pay for active duty members of the Armed Forces, including reserves, when a funding gap occurs. You can learn more about a discharge petition in Marci's blog post .

    _________________________________

    Please keep in mind that highlighting a bill doesn’t imply an endorsement in any way. Rather, we’re simply trying to offer one more way to stay informed of an overwhelmingly complex legislative system. (Another way is to check out the  “Trending Bills of the Week” .)

  13. Today's Bill Picks: 7-18-11

    by rachna on July 18, 2011

    As I explained in  an earlier post , I'm compiling some bills that might be of interest to POPVOX users. I'd love to hear your suggestions! Send me an email at rachna@popvox.com.

    _________________________________

    Today's Bill Picks: July 18

    -- The Cut, Cap and Balance Act (to be voted on by the House on Tuesday) cuts, caps and balances the Federal budget (HR 2560). (Read the Statement of Administration Policy .)

    -- Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act clarifies that countervailing duties may be imposed to address subsidies relating to a fundamentally undervalued currency of any foreign country. (A discharge petition is being circulated on the bill. If it gets 218 signatures, the bill would go directly to the House floor for a vote.)

    -- Airport and Airway Extension Act , Part IV (House Committee hearing Tues.) amends the tax code to extend the funding and expenditure authority of the Airport and Airway Trust Fund and extend the airport improvement program (HR 2553).

    --  Synthetic Drug Control Act (House Committee hearing Thurs.) amends the Controlled Substances Act to place synthetic drugs in Schedule I (HR 1254).

    _________________________________

    Please keep in mind that highlighting a bill doesn’t imply an endorsement in any way. Rather, we’re simply trying to offer one more way to stay informed of an overwhelmingly complex legislative system. (Another way is to check out the  “Trending Bills of the Week” .)

  14. The Hill 101: Discharge Petition

    by marci on July 18, 2011

    Bill status: stuck in committee

    If you have paid attention to the "bill status" tab on POPVOX bills pages, you know that many have the same not-very-encouraging status:

    This bill or resolution was assigned to a congressional committee on [x date] which will consider it before possibly sending it on to the House or Senate as a whole. The majority of bills never make it past this point.

    That underlined portion was coined by our CTO Josh Tauberer years ago as he was building GovTrack .  Now, Josh is unquestionably a realist.  For example, our internal POPVOX message delivery system reports back "Not a failure!" when a message gets delivered to a Congressional office.  (A more optimistic person might call that "Success!", but Josh is much more cautious.)  In the case of bills making it through once referred to committee, however, I'm with Josh... and Bill:

    "I might die in committee..."

    One way out

    BUT, if you know your Elle Woods (that's " Legally Blonde, Part 2: Red, White & Blonde ", to be exact) you know there actually IS one way that a bill can be brought for a vote even if it does not get reported out of committee and is not selected by Leadership: a discharge petition . If at least half of the Members of the House sign to discharge a bill, it is brought to the Floor for a vote.

    Discharge petition filed

    Last week, Congressman Louis Gohmert (R-TX) filed a discharge petition for his bill, HR 1297, the Ensuring Pay for Our Military Act of 2011 . The bill appropriates funds to assure pay for active duty service members in the case of a government shutdown. There is a companion Senate bill, S. 724 , introduced by Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison .

    Watch its progress

    Discharge petitions are rare, but even more rare are successful discharge petitions. You can watch the progress on this one on the website of the House Clerk. Currently, the tally stands at 13. Only 212 signatures to go.

    Update: Discharge petition on China currency bill gaining steam

    Reuters is reporting that the discharge petition filed for Representative Sander Levin 's H.R. 639: Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act has 173 of the 218 signatures needed.

  15. Today's Bill Picks: 7-17-11

    by rachna on July 17, 2011

    As I explained in  an earlier post , I'm compiling some bills that might be of interest to POPVOX users. I'd love to hear your suggestions! Send me an email at rachna@popvox.com.

    _________________________________

    Today's Bill Picks: July 17

    -- The Safe Cosmetics Act amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to ensure the safe use of cosmetics. (HR 2359)

    -- The Citizens' Self-Defense Act protects the right to obtain firearms for security, and to use firearms in defense of self, family, or home, and to provide for the enforcement of such right. (HR 2252)

    -- The Private Student Loan Bankruptcy Fairness Act modifies the dischargeability of debts for certain educational payments and loans. (HR 2028)

    _________________________________

    Please keep in mind that highlighting a bill doesn’t imply an endorsement in any way. Rather, we’re simply trying to offer one more way to stay informed of an overwhelmingly complex legislative system. (Another way is to check out the  “Trending Bills of the Week” .)

  16. Today's Bill Picks: 7-16-11

    by rachna on July 16, 2011

    As I explained in yesterday's post , I'm compiling some bills that might be of interest to POPVOX users. I'd love to hear your suggestions! Send me an email at rachna@popvox.com.

    _________________________________

    Today's Bill Picks: July 16

    -- S 1364 ensures the timely payment of Social Security benefits in August 2011

    -- HR 2560 cuts, caps and balances the Federal budget (will be voted on by the House on Tues.) (also S 1340 )

    -- The Interstate Horseracing Improvement Act prohibits the use of performance-enhancing drugs in horseracing (HR 1733)

    -- The Stop Gun Trafficking and Strengthen Law Enforcement Act was just introduced. It prohibits firearms trafficking (HR 2554)

    _________________________________

    Please keep in mind that highlighting a bill doesn’t imply an endorsement in any way. Rather, we’re simply trying to offer one more way to stay informed of an overwhelmingly complex legislative system. (Another way is to check out the “Trending Bills of the Week” .) It’s then your task as a POPVOX user and a civic-minded individual to weigh in on a bill.

  17. GovFresh--Social Congress and the 21st century legislator

    by annalee on July 15, 2011

    Social Congress and the 21st century legislator in GovFresh

  18. Introducing "Today's Bill Picks"

    by rachna on July 15, 2011

    Many of you who have "liked" us on Facebook know that I post bills on our Facebook page that might be of interest to our users. (We named our Facebook page "POPVOX nation" to mirror the U.S. map that appears on every Bill Report indicating what POPVOX users across the nation think.)

    Many users have asked for these recommendations in an RSS feed , so starting today, I will post these recommendations on this blog as well.

    There's no set process for picking the sample. To be honest, these are just subjective recommendations of bills: a compilation of what I overhear being discussed in random DC coffee shops or what's being talked about on cable news -- or bills that POPVOX users emailed me about or that I read about on blogs. I also try to post what's interesting and current. Please keep in mind that highlighting a bill doesn't imply an endorsement in any way. Rather, we're simply trying to offer one more way to stay informed of an overwhelmingly complex legislative system. (Another way is to check out the "Trending Bills of the Week" .) It's then your task as a POPVOX user and a civic-minded individual to weigh in on a bill.

    So please take the "Today's Bill Picks" list in the spirit that it's written -- and keep coming back to this page! And if you have bills you'd like to share with POPVOXnation, send me an email at rachna@popvox.com.

    Today's Bill Picks -- July 15

    -- The Robocall Privacy Act was just introduced. It regulates political robocalls, including a ban on robocalls between 9pm and 8 am (S 1355).

    -- A POPVOX user just asked about the  Federal Prison Bureau Nonviolent Offender Relief Act , which would provide an alternate release date for certain nonviolent offenders (HR 223).

    --  Hiring Heroes Act goes before a House committee for a hearing today. It improves the provisions of Federal transition, rehabilitation, vocational, and unemployment benefits to members of the Armed Forces (HR 1941).

    -- H Res 220 expressing support for designation of the first Saturday in October as “National Animal Rescue Day” to create awareness, educate humans of the importance of adoption, and create a humane environment for any pet.

  19. Notes from #SocialCongress

    by marci on July 14, 2011

    Last night, in a start-up-y co-work space in the South-of-Market (SOMA) section of San Francisco, entrepreneurs, advocates, Congressional staffers and some folks who just found the topic interesting came to hear Brad Fitch , President of the Congressional Management Foundation, talk “ #SocialCongress .”  That included how Congress perceives constituent communication: the good, the bad and the somewhat surprising.
    POPVOX Advisor and Gov 2.0 champion, Tim O'Reilly kicked off the event with some perspective.  "It's not just about reaching Congress," he emphasized, "but can we use technology to make Congress smarter?"
    We weren’t able to get it on video so what follows are background notes and takeaways.  Last night was just the beginning of the release of findings on how Congress is using Social Media, so follow @CongressFdn for updates and the release of the full report .

    We at POPVOX are big CMF fans -- we comb their reports, we meet with their staff to bounce new ideas, our co-founder and CTO, Josh Tauberer, participates as an advisor on their efforts to standardize formats for incoming messages to Congress.  CMF studies the space between the information Congress wants to receive and the information constituents want to provide -- and we at POPVOX are working to bridge that divide.

    And we're not the only fans... Brad kicked off the event with this video (proving they have been around for a while.):
    The main focus of the presentation was charts of findings from the most recent CMF Report,  Perceptions of Citizen Advocacy on Capitol Hill . Social congress slides

    The report reflects the attitudes of Capitol Hill staff surveyed by CMF:

    1. The internet has increased civic participation and lawmaker accountability but has not necessarily led to a more informed constituency. 2. Citizens have more power than they realize. 3. It's not the delivery method, it's the content. 4. Staff have mixed feelings about grassroots advocacy campaigns 5. Social Media is used to gauge opinions and communicate the legislator's positions. We are grateful to Nader Ghaffari and matthew Melmon of ShortForm.com , who hosted the event at SOMA Central and look forward to making more events like this happen. And many thanks to the wonderful tweeters from far and wide ! There was a wonderful feeling of community, and we plan to make this a much more regular occurrence (with video next time!) Please email info@popvox.com if you would like to be notified when the next event is planned.

     

     

  20. PRESS RELEASE: Heritage Action Powers Online Advocacy with POPVOX

    by annalee on July 11, 2011

    July 11, 2011, WASHINGTON, DC― HERITAGE ACTION, the sister organization to the conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation, today launched a campaign to get supporters’ messages to Congress using the powerful POPVOX advocacy tool.

    The mission of Heritage Action is to ensure that Members of Congress hear directly from their constituents, including over 710,000 members of The Heritage Foundation and millions of others around the country who share their conservative vision of America’s future.

    “Ease of communication is essential in today’s fast-paced and high-stakes environment,” Heritage Action's political director Russ Vought said. “We’re excited by the increased usability that POPVOX will bring to our site.”

    The POPVOX Write Congress widget allows individuals to send a custom message to Congress without leaving the Heritage Action website. Since the tool is powered by POPVOX, constituent information is verified for Congressional offices, messages are aggregated publicly on POPVOX.com to show quantified grassroots power and individuals can track delivery of their message to their legislators offices.

    Link to POPVOX widget on the Heritage Action site: http://heritageaction.com/nat-gas-act

    About POPVOX

    POPVOX is a neutral, nonpartisan advocacy platform that meshes legislative data with individuals’ personal stories and sentiment. POPVOX delivers public input to Congress in a format tailored to actionable policy decisions and empowers users to leverage their expertise and numbers. POPVOX provides a legislative dashboard for Congress and government affairs professionals with bill status information, customized tracking, bill-specific advocacy information, and real-time constituent sentiment and comments. For more information, visit: www.popvox.com

    About Heritage Action

    Heritage Action is a grassroots organization that promotes conservative policies in Congress. Their DC-based staff amplifies local activists’ voices, allowing Americans to break through the establishment in Washington, ensuring Members of Congress get the message.

(For media inquiries, please contact Marci Harris, POPVOX’s CEO, at info@popvox.com.)

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