KEYS TO SUCCESS By Kurt R. LaFrance Director, Legislative Affairs, US Transportation Command
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s the old adage goes, “with great challenges, come great opportunities.” This holds true when working with Congress to achieve legislative objectives. Despite the highly polarized political environment on the Hill between parties, and even within parties, it is still possible for executive branch agencies and US commercial entities to engage successfully with Congress to address common concerns. As members of the nation’s transportation enterprise, we all share a common interest in persuading Congress to do the right thing to enhance the governmental and commercial sides of the enterprise. Here is a roadmap for that success. As anyone who has worked with Congress understands, the 535 independently minded members of Congress form a daunting institution. Understanding who works for whom, which committees have jurisdiction for any particular issue, and how members’ equities affect their approach to issues and legislation can be an insurmountable task, or at least a difficult one. Since members’ and staffers’ time are so limited, it is critically important to approach a members’ office or committee with full knowledge of their 12 |
Defense Transportation Journal
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Consistent messaging is the most effective way to make your case with Congress. That means all parties involved— industry and government—are telling staff the same thing. But be careful; building consensus within industry and government, then lobbying Congress for an expected result, is a clear violation of the Anti-Lobbying Act. jurisdictional role and their ability and willingness to help. First, there are three necessary assumptions, partly intuitive, but needing to be stated. Number one: every member has an agenda. The agenda may be parochial, in that it benefits the member’s district or a set of their constituencies; or, it may be altruistic, in the best interest of the nation or the jurisdictional boundaries of their committee work. In either case, it is necessary to know what that agenda is and how a particular transportation issue may affect it.
MARCH 2015
Second, in the end, after all the arguments are presented, it’s about the money. Even “policy” objectives in legislative proposals culminate in a spending issue for Congress—it’s what they do because that’s what the Constitution demands of them. For example, take the proposal this year to allow 100% disabled veterans to fly on space available aircraft, increasing the potential pool of Space-A flyers by hundreds of thousands. A majority of House members supported the policy proposal, but after consideration in the informal conference committee, the language never made it into the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) due to potential, but unstated, costs. Third, and most importantly, perception is reality. Let’s face it—Congress is ultimately a political institution where members vote on issues they believe their constituents sent them to Congress to advocate. Their response to those issues, based in fact or otherwise, will be the score on the test they must pass in the next election. Those of us dealing with Congress must understand if we are speaking to their perception or to their reality. The recent transition of USTRANSCOM’s Global Privately Owned Vehicle (POV) Contract
