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Donor Briefing No. 05  ·  Legislation  ·  2026

MEF Action / Washington Project

The Capitol Hill Arm: Research Turned Into Law

September 2026·Prepared for donors and foundations
One-Pager (Print / PDF) Discuss a Gift

A finding that stays in a research file is a wasted finding. MEF Action, directed by Benjamin Baird, moves them: roughly 200 congressional engagements and 55 bills tracked in the first half of 2026, by our count. The Washington Project drafts the language, builds the coalitions, and puts constituents behind the ask.

The Stakes

Research does not change policy on its own. Between a finding and a statute stands the machinery of Congress: committee jurisdiction, coalition math, member incentives, and constituent pressure. Most institutions in our space publish and hope. MEF Action was built for the distance between publishing and passage: the drafting, the whip counts, and the letters that make a member’s position easy.

The Record
•Initiated H.R. 8236, the Designating Hamas Affiliates in America Act, now backed by a 23-organization coalition and 12,000-plus constituent letters. The bill directs Treasury to list CAIR and its chapter affiliates as Specially Designated Global Terrorists, blocking assets and prohibiting transactions.
•A $15 million CENTCOM information-operations authorization secured in the NDAA.
•$122 million in USAID grants to Hamas-, Hezbollah-, and al-Qaeda-tied organizations placed on the congressional record.
•Tennessee enacted a ban on terror-linked nonprofits, language MEF helped draft.
What Is Next

Press H.R. 8236. Carry S.3900, the McCormick-Rosen bill and its $20 million a year internet-freedom grant authorization, toward passage alongside the FREEDOM Act’s direct-to-cell provisions. Submit a $75 million FY27 appropriations request through Senator Graham’s office. Carry the Tennessee and Texas precedents into Georgia, Oklahoma, Florida, and Arizona.

12,000+
Constituent letters behind H.R. 8236, with a 23-organization coalition at its back.
What a Gift Funds
The legislative operation: drafting, coalition-building, and the constituent campaigns that move members. A gift here pays for bill language a member can introduce as written, coalition letters with real signatories behind them, and constituent mail that arrives before the vote, not after.
To Discuss a Gift
Gregg Roman
Executive Director
donations@meforum.org
(215) 546-5406
Leave-Behind The print-ready one-pager of this briefing: one Letter page, PDF-exportable.