You can reach your U.S. House member and your two U.S. Senators by phone, through their website, or by mail. Here are the options and what works best.
Find who represents you first
Use the home page lookup for your House representative, and the U.S. Senators by state page for your two senators.
Phone
Every member has a Washington office phone number, listed on their page here and on house.gov or senate.gov. The U.S. Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121 can also connect you to any House or Senate office.
Website contact form
Most members ask constituents to use the contact form on their official site. It usually requires your address so the office can confirm you live in the district or state.
Write to a House member at U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515, and to a senator at U.S. Senate, Washington, DC 20510. Mail to Congress is screened for security and can take longer to arrive.
What helps
Give your name and address so the office knows you are a constituent, name the specific bill or issue, and keep it short. Offices tally constituent input by issue.
Washington office or district office
Most members run at least two offices. The Congressional Research Service reports that most casework is handled by staff in the state or district offices, and that offices commonly hire caseworkers in those locations. Staff in the Washington office concentrate on legislation and policy. If your question is about a bill or a vote, the Washington office is the right call. If a federal agency has stalled on your case, start with the district office.
What casework staff can do
House and Senate guidelines let a member request a status report from an agency, urge prompt consideration, arrange appointments, express judgments, and call for reconsideration of a decision the member believes is not reasonably supported by statute, regulation, or equity.
In practice that covers a stalled Social Security claim, a veterans’ benefits case, a delayed tax refund, a passport application, an immigration case, a small business loan, and a service academy nomination.
What casework staff cannot do
A congressional office cannot overturn an agency decision. Once an agency makes a final determination, the office has to defer to it. Staff cannot give legal advice, cannot intervene in a court case or any matter involving past or pending litigation, and cannot make off the record comments to officials handling a formal proceeding. Federal law is behind most of this: one statute bars members and staff from representing anyone before the federal government outside their official duties, and another bars off the record contact with agency employees expected to decide a case.
State and local problems fall outside the job. Unemployment claims, DMV, jury duty, zoning, child support, and state taxes go to the relevant agency. Staff also cannot open an inquiry on someone else’s behalf. The person who needs help has to ask in writing.
Why offices refer people elsewhere
Congressional offices serve the people they represent. As one House office puts it, members and staff must refer inquiries from individuals outside their district to the member who represents them, as a matter of congressional courtesy. House Ethics Committee guidance, as summarized by the Congressional Research Service, advises particular care with people from outside the district and says official resources should not be used for their casework. The Senate says the same thing in its own words: many senators will acknowledge a message from another senator’s constituent without responding to it.
Finding out who represents you is the first step. Use the lookup on the home page or see who is my representative.
The privacy release form
Under the Privacy Act of 1974 an agency cannot hand a member of Congress records about you without your written authorization. That is why every casework request starts with a signed privacy release. The House runs a standard digital release form system keyed to each district. Medical records may need a second authorization under HIPAA, and individual agencies sometimes require their own format.
Choosing a contact method
Every office publishes a phone number and a web contact form, and the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121 connects you to any House or Senate office. Many webforms only accept messages from people inside the district and ask for a ZIP+4 to confirm it. There is no central directory of member email addresses, because each office sets its own policy.
Postal mail to Capitol Hill is the slowest route. Mail is screened for security first, and one House office tells constituents to expect roughly two extra weeks before it arrives. Members also hold in district meetings and most sites have a request form for them.
Sources
The division of labor between Washington and district offices, the list of permitted actions, the statutory limits, and the Privacy Act requirement come from Congressional Research Service report R44696 on casework in congressional offices. Examples of what offices take on, the referral courtesy, and the mail screening delay come from casework guidance on official House member websites. The Senate courtesy norm and the Capitol switchboard number come from the U.S. Senate contacting page. Checked August 12, 2026.
Related: Find your district, What is a congressional district, U.S. Senators by state, and the 2026 elections tracker.
Last updated September 3, 2026.
