New Congress, New Opportunities: How You Can Help Pass the Ensuring Lasting Smiles Act

January 9, 2025January 9, 2025 Category: Advocacy Posted by Becky Abbott

The new 119th United States Congress began on January 3. What does this mean for the Ensuring Lasting Smiles Act (ELSA)? 

Kevin Koser, the co-chair of the NFED Family Advocacy Committee, and I discussed the plans in detail with ELSA advocates in a webinar on January 7. If you missed it, you can watch the recording below. 

Changes in Congress and the Need for Advocacy

The recent November elections have brought a shift in Congress, making this session different from the last. In the webinar, Kevin explains the demographics and our challenge to educate all new members about the need for our critical legislation. This is the first time since the 115th Congress, both the Senate and the House are controlled by the same political party. However, ELSA has always been a strong, bi-partisan bill in both the U.S. Senate and the U.S House of Representatives. 

A Webinar for New and Experienced Advocates

Whether you are new to advocating for ELSA or have been working for it for years, the webinar will be super helpful for you. You will learn a short history of the bill and how far it’s come since we began in 2016. Watch the webinar to find out the bill’s current status and what we achieved in the last Congress.

Reducing the Bill’s Scope in Response to Opposition

In response to some legislators’  opposition to the bill, we had to reduce the scope of what the bill will cover. Along with our bill leads, we have focused on the language and the bill’s implementation to assure its best chance of success when it comes to a vote. We discuss this topic in better detail in the webinar.

Watch the ELSA Update

What You Can Do to Help ELSA Pass

Register as an advocate. 

If you are new to advocacy, sign up to be an advocate. You will receive a monthly email with updates on ELSA and opportunities for you to take action.

Join our ELSA Facebook group. 

Stay informed and share tips with fellow advocates in our private Facebook group.

Find your senators and representative for the 119th Congress.

Use our online directory to locate your members of Congress and learn more about their backgrounds, positions, and if they have any town hall meetings scheduled. Simply enter your address on the form and hit go. Click on their name to learn more about them.

Create or update your personal story.

If you are a new ELSA advocate, write your personal story about the congenital anomaly that affects you or your family and why you are advocating for ELSA. Check out our advocacy resources for examples and tips on how to tell your story. Keep it concise – one page is ideal!

Contact your new legislators. 

If your senators or representative is new to Congress, start educating them about ELSA. Use our advocacy tool to send a pre-written letter and personalize it with your story.

Tell others about ELSA and ask them to advocate. 

Sharing patient stories is our best chance for success. Ask your friends and family to join you in advocating for ELSA. We have a business card with a QR code that links to our advocacy tool on our advocacy resources page. Take a screen shot of that card and send it to others. You can also download and print it if you want to hand out cards. The more people we get to take action, the better!

Volunteer to be an Advocacy State Lead. 

We need one or two representative(s) from each of the 50 states to serve as a coordinator for that state. Check our list to see if your state needs a representative. Email me to learn more or to volunteer for your state.

Ask other organizations to join the ELSA Coalition. 

The NFED is not the only organization working on ELSA. In fact, there are more than 70. Because there is strength in numbers, we are always looking for additional organizations to join the ELSA Coalition. Do you know a group whose mission would align or benefit from ELSA? Ask them to consider joining our efforts.

Recommit to ELSA: Keep Pushing Forward

Passing a federal law, especially a healthcare-related one, requires immense effort. We understand it can be frustrating that the bill hasn’t passed yet. But we ask you to stay committed.

We are deeply grateful to everyone who supports this legislation. On behalf of the NFED and our Family Advocacy Committee, we thank our bill leads, ELSA’s supporting organizations, the state leads, advocacy donors and each and every one of you who advocate and share your stories. Together, we will succeed!