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12 Pallet C e nt ral • Ma rch -Ap r il 2 0 24 agreement to fund the government— forcing reliance on a series of short- term stopgap bills—Congress is struggling to operate efficiently under the current divided government. Further, many expect the 2024 election will result in a continued divided government—likely with both the House and Senate flipping. In addition to the current divided government, there are a number of key pieces of legislation that will continue to dominate members' focus. For starters, Congress still needs to come to an agreement on how to keep the government open. e fight also appears to continue over the fate of any immigration package or security supplemental for Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan. A limited tax package that includes an extension of the child tax credit and the R&D deduction is gaining bipartisan momentum. And, of course, there's the Farm Bill that needs to be reauthorized, though the timeline for consideration continues to slip. Getting these big-ticket items done before the end of September—to ensure members can spend all of October in their state or district—is the biggest priority at this point. Admittedly, this divided government—with a number of conflicting and complicated legislative priorities—offers a bit of a grim outlook. But it's important to remember that despite the challenging path forward for moving and passing EFFECTIVE ADVOCACY IN AN ELECTION YEAR BY KYLIE FRONCZAK PLAY POLICY AT T he year 2024 brings all of the challenges of governance that came with the first session of the 118th Congress but with the added challenge of it being an election year. Here's our guide and plan on how to maintain meaningful advocacy and cut through the even louder noise on Capitol Hill. ere's a popular political theory that the principal motivator for all legislators is reelection, and never is that more clearly illustrated than in an election year. Members will use their time during hearings to offer soliloquies and sound bites to be run in splashy campaign ads. Others will attempt to force votes that the opposing party will struggle to defend in their district. e competition for air space is even tighter than normal, and getting members to focus on your priority becomes an even higher hurdle. To set organizations up for the most success in an election year, most advocacy strategies aim to front-load as much work as possible towards the beginning of the year. is approach saves you from doing the impossible task of getting lawmakers to care about anything in October other than the upcoming election and avoids having to gamble on any legislative business getting done during a "lame duck" or post-election session. Lame-duck sessions can sometimes indicate the unofficial end of major legislative undertaking; however, that's not always the case. Historically, some major pieces of legislation (e.g., the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 and the Homeland Security Act) or congressional history (e.g., the impeachment of former President Clinton) were passed or took place during lame-duck sessions. So while you should never count a lame-duck session out, it should not be relied on. NWPCA's 2024 advocacy approach accounts for the factors that will make this election year in particular a difficult one to navigate. As illustrated by Congress's continued challenges in reaching an

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