What we Accomplished on Capitol Hill during the 2008 Legislative Forum

NRPA had a mighty presence on Capitol Hill on March 13, 2008 when over 400 advocates for parks and recreation trooped the Halls of Congress for a day. From the depths of the basement tunnel that connects the Cannon House Office Building to the Rayburn House Office Building, to the highest point on the Hill outside of the Capitol Dome, namely the 9th floor of Hart Senate Office Building, NRPA’s members and advocates were EVERYWHERE on the Hill. The members of Congress and congressional staff knew who we were and why we were there.

Yes, we had a big footprint, but what did we really accomplish?  Did we get our messages across, and did we effectively deliver our ‘asks’ for legislation and appropriations?  We did what any national association worth its salt does by  having a successful fly-in event, and in fact, ours was better than most. 

However, the real test of whether we were successful or not is how well we accomplished our legislative and advocacy agenda. 

While we won’t know for a few weeks and months just how effective we were, we can report that we heard good news and some not so good news.

The good news—we had quite a bit of good news.  Our members aided by a strong contingent of USTA representatives, visited virtually every Member of Congress or their staff.  In fact, by a show of hands during the Observations from the Hill session on the day following the Hill visits, attendees indicated that at least 25% of them had face-to-face meetings with Members of Congress themselves.  This is very good news because it is the best way to get our agenda accomplished.

We heard strong support for our major priorities.  Clearly the Land and Water Conservation Fund state assistance program is a well-regarded program, a federal matching grant program that Members of Congress know delivers results in their states and in their communities.  Many of our advocates asked, and received, commitments of Members to sign on to the Dear Colleague letters that NRPA members
asked them to co-sign to show their support for LWCF and the Urban Park and Recreation Recovery Program (UPARR).

We heard support for our health and wellness agenda, especially our efforts to improve health, reduce obesity in youth, and fight chronic disease by providing programs and services in close-to-home parks and recreation programs that help people get fit and stay healthy.

We improved on existing relationships with Members of Congress, and we built new relationships with Members and staff.  We got our message across better than we ever have before because our members were prepared and well-trained by having excellent materials, briefing papers, and some of the best ever training programs and educational sessions at the 2008 Forum.

However, we also heard some not so good news.  Many Members of Congress told our advocates, “We love your programs, but there is just no money…”   Clearly, the budget climate this year combined with the President’s newly found commitment to hold spending in check will challenge Congress to find ways to fund important programs like LWCF, and there was likely even less money to be found for UPARR or
other priorities such as the Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance program.

Additionally, we learned that there is more than an even chance that the President intends to veto any proposed increases in the budget by Congress.  Therefore, Congress might be reluctant to bring ppropriations bills forward before this President leaves office.  If so, the budget process might look like it did this year, namely no appropriations bills but a Continuing Resolution that generally keeps existing levels of spending from the current year, with a few tweaks, and offers little or no new programmatic direction.

We also heard the not so good news that Members of Congress didn’t really know how parks and recreation contributed to developing healthy lifestyles, and few of them had heard of our advocacy efforts for the PLAY Every Day Act.  It showed us that we have much more work to do in building Congressional awareness.

We also heard from Members that our issues would not likely be their priority unless our issues tie to the economy and economic realities of 2008.  We have our work cut out to make these arguments effectively.

In balance, the good news outweighed the bad.  Our members received warm receptions and much encouragement.  Members of Congress appreciated our passion and our commitment; we just have to work to make our issues become their priorities. 

One of the most encouraging things our advocates heard was that the Presidential and congressional elections in 2008 will offer an historic opportunity to advance our national agenda for parks and recreation.  In 2009, there will be a new President. Whether control stays with the Republicans or moves to the Democrats, there will be a new administration with new objectives, new commitments, and a
new vision for what they will want to accomplish in their tenure.  Members and staffers told us that will be the optimum time, perhaps more so than in the last 20 years, to advance our national goals for parks and recreation.

For more analysis, more in-depth reports on the visits to Capitol Hill, and more direction on how we plan to move our national advocacy goals forward, visit the NRPA advocacy webpages at ww.nrpa.org/advocacy or continue to visit the 2008 Legislative Forum blog.