Write Your Congressperson and/or Senator + A Fun Poll
Most of the federal government will continue running on autopilot through Jan. 30, setting up another showdown.
You have a voice in how the government is run and it's worth it to make it heard.
The recent vote (Nov. 12) to reopen the US economy was a temporary deal. It expires on January 30, 2026. At this time, if US Americans have been screwed out of their ACA subsidies, it is very likely that there will be another government shutdown.
More info below the cut, but FIRST, a fun poll:
Have you ever written to anyone about something that pissed you off (any nationality)?
Yes, someone in charge of shit
Yes, but not anyone in charge of shit
Yes, multiple times!
Nope, don't care enough
Nope, I'm afraid someone will come after my ass
Nope, don't know how
Other (tell us in the tags)
Voting ended onNov 23, 2025
I've only done it once, but I'm gettin' ready to do it again!
This is your chance to tell them what you think about allowing the Affordable Care Act subsidies to expire, causing most people who get insurance through that system to end up with premium prices that could be double (2x) what you pay now.
Whether it's your insurance on the line or a family member or friend, this situation affects everyone who isn't a billionaire (or trillionaire in training).
I've written a template letter that you all may use to send your thoughts to your congressional representative. Fill in the blank parts and tweak anything else in between to suit your message.
Step 1: Find your senator and/or representative
Go here to do that - This link will take you to a search tool through the U.S. Congress. After giving it some information to identify your location, it will list your U.S. House representative and also both of your senators.
Enter your address. This is just to make sure you get the right representative, as it's hard to tell by map with all the gerrymandering.
Then, click on your person's name. You'll be taken to their personal congressional page. Keep the tab with all three people listed open so you can go back and write the others, too.
Step 2: Write a message
Each representative and senator has their own messaging system. Most do not disclose their actual email addresses. Some have extreme character limits; others do not limit messages at all.
If you have a large character/word limit or no limit at all, feel free to use the template letter, below (the last part of this post), in whole or part.
If your message is "too long", consider sending it in parts. Otherwise, you'll have to be brief.
It can be as simple as "Don't open the government until we can keep/get back our Affordable Care Act subsidies. Thanks, Your Name."
Step 3: Jump through the hoops to get that message sent. The forms can seem incredibly invasive, but fear not; they already have your information. Check that, fear a lot, but don't worry about this time, ok?
Step 4: Tell everyone (US Americans) you know to write to their congressperson/senators as soon as they can.
If you're not sure about whether to send a message or ignore this plea, read the template letter, below, or do a search on the issue. Find out how it could affect you, your loved ones, or your friends if the costs for medical insurance double or more.
Alternatively, you could print it out and let it ride the snail. No shame. Sometimes that's what we need do to to get it into their hands. Plus, you won't have to give up your phone number and/or email address.
Here's the template letter:
IF the subsidies are not extended in December, you may have to update the template to reflect that.
[Your Name]
[Your Address]
[Your Phone Number]
[Your Email Address]
[Date]
The Honorable Congressman/Congresswoman/Senator [Full Name]
I am writing to express my profound concern regarding the failure of the U.S. Congress to extend Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies on November 12, 2025. These subsidies are crucial to the well-being of every single American who does not have insurance through an employer (and some who do in trying to obtain better coverage) and allowing them to expire would have devastating consequences.
Allowing the ACA subsidies to expire on December 31, 2025 will disproportionately affect the elderly, the sick, and disabled people, along with average women, men, and children, leading to negative health outcomes. Furthermore, Congress has failed to consider the long-term economic and social implications of allowing the subsidies to expire. An independent poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation was published just five days ago and shows how people feel about extending the subsidies.
In the poll¹, 74% of people said they would like the ACA subsidies extended. This includes 94% of Democrats polled, 76% of Independents, and 50% of Republicans. Half of all Republicans want the subsidies extended. From a recent article²: “From 2020 to 2025, Affordable Care Act enrollment grew by about 36% in states that voted for Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election, compared with more than 150% in states that supported President Donald Trump last year.”
This country was founded on the principle that it is run by the people for the people. It seems to me "the people" are being lost to the goal of furthering corporate profit, but it's our vote that affects whether you have a job at the end of your term. Please remember that as you read this letter and make your decision.
Please also remember that your Republican constituents are among the demographics most likely to be reliant on Medicaid to keep insurance. Everyone knows who wrote this bill and they will know who voted for it. Those who support it now may change their minds when the consequences endanger them and their family. Voting against this bill is as much a tactical decision to secure your seat against the thin margins you won it last election. If you are not moved by pleas to the needs of the American people, it is worth pointing that out.
I understand the Republican vote can often be seen as a foregone conclusion, but that is not the case, especially as polling shows how unpopular allowing the subsidies to expire is with Republican voters. You are jeopardizing your own seat in Congress if your vote allows the subsidies to expire. Perhaps enough that your seat could go to a Democrat next time. Considering the current political climate, I’d say that is a likely outcome. You have a chance to change our minds. Don’t let it go. When the time comes to vote for another funding bill, please make sure it extends the Affordable Healthcare Act subsidies.
I’m calling on you to remember any vulnerable time when money was an issue. When you, a loved one, or a friend got sicker because going to the doctor was too expensive. I’m quite sure those times were frightening. That’s how I feel right now; I know I’m far from alone in that.
Failing to extend the Affordable Care Act subsidies would be financially disastrous, but it would also likely be the source of poorer health outcomes. For me, and perhaps millions of others, I won’t go to the doctor if I can’t afford it. I’ll avoid the emergency department at a hospital because I won’t be able to afford it.
In a study called, “Why do People Avoid Medical Care? A Qualitative Study Using National Data,” one of the conclusions, shown in the paper’s Figure 2, is that avoidance of medical care – for any reason – results in a “lack of medical and preventive care,” which leads to “poorer health outcomes.”³
This all means that, if I get sick, I’ll just get sicker. Your constituents will get sicker. The country will get sicker. Let's keep that from happening.
I urge you to consider voting to keep the ACA subsidies and to fight for us to continue to receive affordable healthcare. Your consideration of this critical matter would be greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
[Your Typed Name]
[Your Signature]
Citations
¹ “Poll: Support for Extending the Expiring Enhanced ACA Tax Credits Remains High, But Dips Among Republicans and MAGA Supporters as Shutdown Continues and Partisanship Takes Hold”, https://www.kff.org/affordable-care-act/poll-support-for-extending-the-expiring-enhanced-aca-tax-credits-remains-high-but-dips-among-republicans-and-maga-supporters-as-shutdown-continues-and-partisanship-takes-hold/
² “Who will get hit hardest by ACA premium increases in four charts”, https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/07/politics/aca-premium-increases-subsidies-charts-vis
³ “Why do People Avoid Medical Care? A Qualitative Study Using National Data”, https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4351276/
END OF LETTER <---don't put this part unless you had to cut it up to send lots of smaller messages. I also included headers like, "Part 1 of 3."
Each week, our Congressional representatives meet with staff to take the temperature of their constituency. One way they do this is to take a count on issues discussed in letters and emails.
That means that by writing ONE EMAIL A WEEK, you can have an impact, even if you live in a district where you are in the minority.
It’s easy. All it takes is five minutes and a plan. I keep the page for my Representative and Senators open in my browser and set a reminder on my phone for every Wednesday morning when I’m on the train to work. The email itself is sometimes a few paragraphs, sometimes a few sentences. Then I click Send and I’m done.
Want to make it easier? Pick a topic—how about “Concentration Camps are Bad,” or maybe “Keep the Government Out of My Uterus” and send a note on that topic every week.
I was so angry at my senator that I looked up free fax services, just because sending an angry fax is somehow a lot more satisfying than sending an angry email.
I found FaxZero, which supplies free faxes in exchange for an advertisement on each fax’s cover page, which isn’t ideal, but it also supplies a way to easily find every member of Congress’ fax number, which is convenient.
So if after you’ve ResistBot and/or 5Calls and/or BattleForTheNet you’re still hankering to contact your reps, FaxZero’s another option for flooding them with messages.
Photo: Capitol Hill in Olympia Washington. If you feel called to act: Please read this list of bills. If these issues move you call your legislators. 202/224-3121, press 2 for representatives. Or write your Congressperson and the Congressional Committees debating these bills. The following bills have been filed. Please encourage your Congressperson to vote No. 1. HR 861/637 Terminate the Environmental Protection Agency 2. HR 610 Vouchers for Public Education 3. HR 899 Terminate the Department of Education 4. HJR 69 Repeal Rule Protecting Wildlife 5. HR 370 Repeal Affordable Care Act 6. HR 354 Defund Planned Parenthood 7. HR 785 National Right to Work (this one ends unions) 8. HR 83 Mobilizing Against Sanctuary Cities Bill 9. HR 147 Criminalizing Abortion (“Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act”) 10. SB 5607 would increase Seattle homeowners tax and decrease corporate property taxes. 11. HJR 46 opens National Parks up to oil drilling (you can already get permits to log in national parks). Encourage your Congressperson to vote Yes on these: 1. HB 1570 moves $200 million to the Seattle Housing Opportunity to fund homeless housing and support. 2. HB 1048 extends reach of existing solar power initiatives.
If you are like me and cannot stand the idea of using a phone call to contact your congresspeople, writetocongress.org will determine your congresspeople and draft a letter on an issue of your choosing that you can edit and print
and then faxzero.com/fax_senate.php or faxzero.com/fax_congress.php will let you send your letter as a fax to that person's office for free
You don't have to interact directly with another human at all!
So I wrote a supportive postcard to Charles Schumer, D-NY, who is the Senate Minority Leader I think? anyway. My senator, at any rate, and while Googling to find out his Twitter handle I discovered that he is surely getting a whole shitload of nasty hate directed at him by some singularly uninformed people.
I plan to write a similarly supportive one to the junior senator for my state, who is also an alum of my high school. (She stood out recently as one of the only Democrats to vote against a particular thing; she seems extremely committed to civilian oversight of the military, among other things.)
I want to send more pointed postcards, as well-- on Schumer’s, I bullet-pointed a couple of things, just to emphasize what I was supporting him on. I have some more specific things for Gillibrand as well, though I haven’t fully composed her card.
A colleague suggested I write to the former executive of my county, though, who is now a Republican rep in the House of Representatives, for a new district near mine.
I’m going to write to my own rep as well-- in fact I already have-- but he’s a Democrat and so also is already approximately doing what I want.
However, by Googling the rep my colleague mentioned, I discovered that that rep (Chris Collins) has a mixed legislative record and, while reprehensible, is a blue-state Republican and so has some reasonable stances on a few issues. I plan to write to him about those issues. He serves on a committee I care about, and I plan to start with that.
I also discovered that the chairperson of that committee is another Republican rep from New York, and this other rep is one of the Rs who expressly stated that he would not vote for Trump. He has voted against the ACA but has expressly defended Planned Parenthood and has even spoken out against anti-abortion legislation that fails to leave allowances for the health of the mother. He also has been expressly supportive of LGBT causes.
So I’m writing to him too, even though his district is nowhere near mine. (I drive through it twice monthly though!)
I feel like the moderate Republicans are the places to direct attention, you know?
There must be a list out there somewhere, of the potential swing voters. Surely someone more talented and organized than I am has devoted attention and time to this. Where should I start, looking for such a thing? I just don’t know what to Google, or what I’m really looking for. I’m following links around Wikipedia and trying to write down names and issues but I’m not doing well at keeping it organized and I don’t really know how to. Given that I’m singularly the-opposite-of-gifted at this sort of thing, pretty much any other human on the planet would be doing this better, is my point, but I don’t know how to find it.
Photos: homemade postcards for Washington State's Senators and Representatives. I spent the weekend writing over 40 letters and homemade postcards to various House and Senate committees made and written by me will be in the mail tomorrow. Are you writing your Congressperson? HR 861 will repeal the EPA. HB 1611 will make train companies pay for oil train disasters and keep Puget Sound Safe. Democratic Senator Joe Manchin, West Virginia, is the only Democratic vote FOR Jeff Sessions as Attorney General and thus the reason why that racist, homophobe was appointed. The confirmation of Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State means a man who made a deal in 2011 to drill for oil in the Arctic with Russian oil company Rosneft, in return for access to oil fields in Texas; is two heartbeats from the Presidency. Just in case you needed some inspiration.
