Engaging Congress
When manufacturers use their voices, key decision-makers in Washington, D.C., and our communities listen. Tips, templates and tools for engaging your members of Congress by email, by phone and at town halls.
Engaging Your Members of Congress
When manufacturers use their voices, key decision-makers in Washington, D.C., and our communities listen. To make sure our officials hear us loud and clear, it’s important to take advantage of the primary engagement channels officials use every day. Below are resources and tips on how to best engage officials through email, calling and town halls.
We encourage you to contact us with any thoughts or questions on how to engage your officials. Manufacturers are driving our industry’s future, and it’s the NAM’s job to amplify your efforts along the way.
Three Ways to Reach Your Officials
Emailing Congress
Sending a personal email to the office of your member of Congress on a specific issue is one of the most impactful ways to use your voice. It is quick, it ensures the office reads and keeps a record of your message, and offices refer back to constituent communications when they work on related legislation.
Quick tips:
- Don’t bury the lead: make the subject line identify the purpose of the email, state who you are and why you are writing in the first paragraph, and stick to one issue.
- Inform the reader: after making clear you are a constituent, state your view and your specific ask, with supporting data and the bill number (e.g., S. 4221).
- Lead with facts and make it personal: the NAM can help with the facts, but how the legislation affects your company and your employees is what makes the message land.
- Be concise: officials and staff are busy — keep it to 500 words or fewer.
Calling Congress
Next to an in-person meeting, calling and leaving a message with your member of Congress is the most effective way to connect. Calling lets you attach a real voice to your message. The Capitol Switchboard connects you to any office: U.S. House of Representatives (202) 225-3121 and U.S. Senate (202) 224-3121.
Quick tips:
- You do not need to be an expert, but know where your member stands on the issue.
- Introduce yourself as part of the manufacturing community in their state or district.
- Present the issue clearly and leave a clear ask: what are you asking the member to do?
- Personalize it — how the issue affects you makes the call memorable and useful to the office.
- Thank the staffer and note that manufacturers look forward to continuing to work with the member.
Want to use the NAM’s tools? Our action opportunities can include patch-through calling on pressing issues — contact us to learn more.
Attending or Hosting a Town Hall
Members of Congress hold town halls to hear directly from the people they represent — interactive conversations where community members ask questions and offer guidance. A manufacturer in the room, or on the host’s side of the podium, puts the industry’s story in front of the lawmaker and the local press at the same time.
Templates and Samples
Adapt these to your company and the issue at hand. Both examples reflect manufacturers’ current push to pass the EBITDA Act.
Email template: urging support for the EBITDA Act
The example below reflects manufacturers’ current effort to pass the EBITDA Act. Swap in the issue and the facts that matter most to your company.
Subject line: Manufacturers in [STATE] Urge Support for the EBITDA Act (S. 4221)
Dear [Representative/Senator LAST NAME],
As a manufacturer in [CITY, STATE / DISTRICT], I urge you to support the Ensuring Better Interest Treatment and Deductibility (EBITDA) Act, S. 4221. Congress delivered lasting certainty for manufacturers with the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (H.R. 1), and the EBITDA Act builds on that success by updating the definition of adjusted taxable income used to calculate the business interest deduction — addressing a remaining limitation that can penalize U.S. businesses for past borrowing.
[Two or three sentences about your company: what you make, how many people you employ in the district and a recent investment — a new line, new equipment, an expansion — that financing made possible.]
Manufacturers borrow to build. A competitive interest deduction lowers the cost of financing new facilities, machinery and jobs, and it helps American manufacturers compete against companies around the world while investing here at home.
I respectfully ask you to cosponsor and vote for the EBITDA Act. Thank you for your leadership on behalf of the manufacturers and manufacturing workers in [STATE].
Sincerely,
[NAME]
[TITLE, COMPANY]
[CITY, STATE]
Sample phone call
The example below reflects manufacturers’ current effort to pass the EBITDA Act.
Identify yourself as a constituent and explain why you are calling:
Hi — my name is [NAME] and I lead [COMPANY], a manufacturer in [CITY]. I’m calling to urge [Representative/Senator LAST NAME] to support the EBITDA Act, S. 4221.
Establish why the issue matters from a manufacturer’s perspective:
We borrow to invest — in equipment, in our facility and in the people we hire. The EBITDA Act fixes a remaining limitation in the business interest deduction so that financing growth here in [STATE] is not more expensive than it needs to be. It builds on the certainty Congress delivered in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (H.R. 1).
Ask your member of Congress to take action:
I’m asking [Representative/Senator LAST NAME] to cosponsor and vote for the EBITDA Act.
Thank the staffer:
Thank you for your time. Manufacturers in [STATE] look forward to continuing to work with your office.
Attending or Hosting a Town Hall
With a busy congressional calendar, it’s important to know when and where your member of Congress plans to hold a live community discussion. The Town Hall Project tracks upcoming events nationwide and explains how to host your own.
Make the most of it:
- Arrive early, sign in and identify yourself as a local manufacturer and employer.
- Prepare one concise question with a clear ask — and the number of jobs your company supports in the district.
- Bring a one-page leave-behind about your company for the member’s staff.
- Follow up with the district office afterward and invite the member to see your facility.
Planning to host a town hall? The NAM wants to help make it impactful — contact us with any questions.
Want the NAM’s Help?
From patch-through calling tools to message guidance, the NAM’s advocacy team can help you reach your officials on the issues that matter most to your company.
