Unofficial Steps to Get Legislation Through Congress

Elisabet Ney Chapter needed the sponsorship of a member of Congress to author legislation for the Republic of Texas Legation Memorial. Letters were written to every member of the Texas delegation to Congress and mailed in the Spring 2018. About August Rep. John Culberson volunteered to sponsor our legislation, HR.6672 and Rep. Poe cosponsored the bill. That bill went nowhere. Legislation does not find its way through Congress without an army of supporters. When the 115th Congress was over, our bill was too. Rep. Culberson was not reelected, Judge Poe retired, and HR 6672 died.

January 2019 the new representatives were sworn into Congress. This time would be different, emails were sent, we gathered lists of people and contacts, new letters were written to all the Texas delegation again and a more aggressive tac was taken. One of Elisabet Ney’s chapter members was a former lobbyist on Capitol Hill. She showed us how things were done. Congressional offices were called, we made appointments, went to Capitol Hill and visited in Congressional offices. Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX-35) from the Austin area came forward to sponsor HR 3349, The Republic of Texas Legation Memorial Act. A group of bipartisan representatives volunteered to cosponsored HR 3349. Senator Ted Cruz sponsored a separate bill, S 4744, through the Senate.