Physics Advocacy in Action

The APS Office of Public Affairs (OPA) worked with the Forum on Graduate Student Affairs (FGSA) for a two-stage advocacy campaign on the tax reform bill. The first stage encouraged the Senate to reject the House proposed tax on graduate student tuition waivers, which yielded a positive result. The second phase asked both chambers to exclude the tax on tuition waivers in the final bill. In a coordinated effort, that second part also involved the Forum on Early Career Scientists (FECS) and the Forum on Education (FEd). In total, more than 2,400 people sent nearly 7,000 messages to Congress in the two parts of this campaign, and 27 out of 29 members of the conference committee negotiating the final bill were contacted in the second phase – and this tax on tuition waivers was ultimately excluded from the final tax reform bill! As shown in the map below, advocates in every state sent messages through APS in the first or second part of the campaign.