Transitioning to the New 112th Congress

A new Congress was elected this month, and will be formally sworn-in the first week of January. In the meantime, the old 111^th Congress is currently finishing its work in a “lame duck” legislative session that will probably last until mid-December.

Since the current House members and Senators are still the official representatives, they continue to have voting power and constituent responsibilities. As such, the outgoing 111th Congress remains the constituent contact targets in Rally Congress. Since this can be confusing for users, we’ve added a short message that explains that the 111^th Congress is still completing its work.

There are a couple of notable exceptions— Sens. Coons and Manchin filled seats mid-term, so they are already Senators and are live in Rally Congress. Similarly, two House seats were vacant and Congress seated those new winning members this week.

Once this Congress adjourns in December, we will completely shift the system over to the new incoming members of the 112^th Congress. During this transition, users will can then take action towards the new Congress, and we will hold all messages and deliver them as soon as the 112^th Congress is online the first week of January. The U.S. House does a great job getting the contact forms up and running, so we expect to be delivering messages in early January.

Some advocacy ideas for the transition include creating a “greeting” call-to-action that welcomes the new Congress and highlights your organization’s legislative goals for the 112th Congress.  Good luck and as always, let us know if you have any questions!