Gaining Buy-In from the Fly-In:
A Recap of the Chamber’s
2022 Washington Trip
by Lynne Hayes and Mike Danahey
If ever there was a quote that could serve as the motto for the Chamber’s Washington Fly-In team, it would be this one penned by life coach, Hiral Nagda: “When you take action on your goals, gorgeous avenues get lined up for you.” This year, once again, the team has proven that letting our voices be heard and our vision be shared really does pay off.
Among the eight participants who made up the 2022 Washington Fly-In team were
incoming Chamber Board Chair Elect, Nick Davis, market president of Guaranty Bank & Trust; Dr. Rebecca Riley, immediate past Chamber Board Chair and president of Lone Star College - Montgomery; Cody Spence, Chairman of the Board and owner of All Star Catering Co.; Steve Pilgrim, Vice Chair of Governmental Affairs and retired director of business and economic development at Entergy; Danielle Scheiner, Ex-Officio Board Member and executive director of the Conroe Economic Development Council; Steve Scott, Board Member and owner of Houston Business Coach; Randie Morton, Past Board Member, Legislative Committee Member and managing partner at Better Bookkeepers; and Scott Harper, president of the Conroe Chamber of Commerce.
Here’s a look at their experiences from the trip.
Takeaways from the Department of Treasury, the Department of Education and the Small Business Association
With a tight schedule and many people to meet with, setting clear goals was essential for everyone on the team. For banking executive Davis, interest rates and inflation were at the top of the list.
“Our time was limited for each meeting, so my primary goal was to find common ground as quickly as we could and to be a voice for our business members,” Davis shared. “We discussed the impacts that inflation and higher interest rates are having on our local businesses and how that might steer discussions between the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve office.”
Davis said cryptocurrency and the impacts it has had on the economy was also a key topic.
“We wanted to understand what plans the department was taking to evaluate its impact along with their research in establishing a Central Bank Digital Currency.”
For Riley, a strong advocate of public education, the focus was on several issues related to K-12 and higher education.
“Meeting with representatives of the Department of Education (DOE) was primary, but I also met with the departments of Commerce, Labor, and Health & Human Services (HHS),” Riley explained. “All of these agencies touch education fairly deeply through grants, regulations, and more.”
Riley’s conversation with each office was tailored to connect K-12, community colleges, and university needs to their specific service areas.
“At the DOE, for example, we spoke about Pell grants, free and reduced lunch, and student debt, among other things,” she said. “At Commerce and Labor, I focused on the need for grants to fund vocational training elements such as heavy equipment, truck driving, health care, and STEM programs. With HHS, we discussed the nursing shortage and what we are doing to address it across all of the health occupations.”
As for Morton, her goal was to meet face-to-face with DC leaders and ask how we could help them bring the message of what they were working on back to Conroe’s business community.
“Our Government Affairs committee is all about making sure the members and community have the information they need to be successful, especially the deadlines and how-tos about operating their small businesses,” she said. “Especially in an election year, which can bring about numerous changes for them.”
Preparation Was Key
With just three days to make their cases, Davis, Riley, and Morton spent weeks preparing for the trip.
“I spoke with many local leaders in the community to gauge what business issues most concerned them,” Davis said. “I also sat down with other bankers to discuss action items related to the Treasury Department. I spent a lot of time on the Department’s website reviewing policy issues and agendas. There’s a lot of information available to the public as to their initiatives.”
Riley focused her preparation on meeting with area superintendents to gather a list of priorities for K-12 education and also got input from Sam Houston State University.
“Along with getting input on K-12 and higher-ed issues, I consulted with Linda Head, senior vice chancellor for external and employer partnerships, as well as my boss, Dr. Steve Head, chancellor at Lone Star, to explore what was needed to enhance workforce education opportunities here. Both have extensive DC connections, which was a real advantage in developing a cohesive message and consistent requests.”
Riley also ensured she understood what kind of regulatory authority each agency has and what kind of grants they administer to make sure her appeals were heard by the right people.
Both Riley and Morton were already Fly-in veterans, having participated in the Chamber’s first trip just before the pandemic hit.
“That trip proved to be very fruitful,” Riley said, “especially when it came to raising awareness among legislators and cabinet staffers of educational priorities as well as many other priorities for the Conroe region.”
Morton agreed but added there was room to make an even bigger impact.
“We had some great meetings, but like most things there’s always room for improvement when planning the ‘next time’,” she said. “This year’s contingent was intentionally about half the size of the last one to ensure we were able to make the most of the limited time we had with each official.”
“The most valuable perspective I gained was about communication. Most departments pointed us right back to our local or state office, so this gave us a great opportunity to retrieve the correct and most current contact information for our local and state offices,” Morton added.
Tallying the Results
“While the Conroe area has enjoyed the service of a congressman who is always in touch with his constituents, there are cabinet members and staffers who rarely hear directly from us in a real conversation,” shared Riley. “The Fly-in affords an opportunity to clarify things already on their radar as well as bring new items to their attention.”
Riley also noted that it can be confusing as to who drives education initiatives.
“K-12 education is governed and administered primarily through local and state government, and the primary drivers from DC in K-12 have to do with special education, free and reduced lunch, etc., not curriculum. The folks at DOE also seemed very interested in hearing about our state’s experience during and since the pandemic. In many ways, we fared better than other states. For higher education, it’s a little early to tell. It never hurts to make your needs, frustrations, insights, and support known to officials in D.C.”
The banking scene here in Conroe/Lake Conroe will also likely feel some benefits from the Fly-in, according to Davis. He learned that there are many people working behind the scenes “trying to do the good work for our great nation.”
“Although the news and media portray many polarizing and controversial topics that are highly debated, there are many of those working behind the scenes, reaching across the aisle to make common sense improvements to our country,” he said. “I believe we made many contacts with individuals in D.C. that we will be able to leverage and communicate with on behalf of our community. Our D.C. connections also facilitated meetings with their regional office staff — people who are more focused on us directly. That will be very valuable.”
As for Morton’s time in Washington, she felt the biggest accomplishment was the extensive facetime she had.
“In meeting with D.C. leaders, we were able to put real faces to the statistics that they see in reports,” she said. “This makes a difference when they formulate their decisions, good or bad, on behalf of Conroe and also Montgomery County.”
Poised for a Strong Future
In Riley’s estimation, the biggest takeaways from the fly-ins are the relationships that are formed and strengthened.
“We made so many important contacts – people to call when we need something, and they have our names as resources for our community,” she noted. “Hopefully, we also had an influence on creating new grants for colleges and universities training our Conroe students for high-demand jobs.”
Davis was also pleased with the results.
“I wanted to bring back useful information that we could disseminate to the membership, and also create connections and lines of communication in DC that could open up doors for our community to assist in our rapid growth. I believe we accomplished that.”
Added Morton, “A core value I live by is enrichment – enrichment of ourselves and of our community. If you’re not growing, you’re dying. In D.C., we added to the growth opportunities for Conroe in many ways. We’re helping to create a legacy in a small business community that will be ready to provide for the generations to follow.”
Takeaways from the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Transportation, the Department of Energy, the Department of Commerce, Representative Kevin Brady and Senator John Cornyn.
Cody Spence met with the Department of Health and Human Services, while Steve Pilgrim met with the Department of Transportation, Rep. Kevin Brady, the Department of Energy and Sen. John Cornyn’s staff.
“We went there to discuss policies that affect Conroe’s business community and to learn more about programs that might help members, particularly less publicized efforts,” Spence said, noting that the general consensus the group took back home was that the tight labor market and inflation were still top concerns — but any policy decisions or legislation seemed to be holding still until after November’s midterm election.
Still, Spence said the trip was quite successful, thanks in large part to Pilgrim, who arranged the visit. Pilgrim worked with Congressman Kevin Brady’s office on ironing out the details of the visit.
“Our goal is that the Chamber becomes seen as playing an ultimate role as a liaison between government and our business community, creating added value for our members,” Pilgrim said.
Spence said the group learned that their trip was relatively unique among Chambers of Commerce, and those they met wished more Chambers would come visit so that they could hear first-hand about issues and concerns from businesses and communities.
Spence took notes for a meeting with staff from the Department of Health and Human Services.
Key Takeaways
One takeaway from the discussion was that with inflation and the state of the economy, the majority of kids in schools across the country will be on government subsidized lunches.
The group also heard that in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, to expect upcoming major shortages in the medical staff workforce. The shortages will be due in large part to burnout, the mental health strain on current workers, a lack of incoming workers and a higher-than-usual level of retirement.
As such, the growth and effectiveness of telehealth will be important. At the same time, better mental health resources are in the pipeline for health care workers.
Past the pandemic, there is an even greater need for rural health care workforce, the group learned. Rural communities will see a larger growth in telehealth because of the rapid decline in rural hospitals and rural health care workers.
Spence said the Conroe contingent was told the best way to get information from HHS about any of its programs, information and resources would be through the regional office in Dallas.
The meeting with HHS was the last session the Conroe congregation had before it held a reception, a send-off-and-thank-you-for-your-service for Congressman Brady, who did not run for reelection. Fellow Republican Morgan Luttrell won the seat for Texas’ 8th Congressional District in November and will be taking his oath of office in January.
Brady told the Chamber delegation he is appreciative of their work and that it is vital for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to succeed as an advocate for businesses across the nation.
He urged the group to have strong relationships with Congressmen Dan Crenshaw and Luttrell, who give the Chamber two bats swinging for them in Washington.
Topics to Consider Looking Ahead
Brady also advised that the country is or will soon be in a recession, with inflation not going away soon. Housing will keep driving inflation. And workers’ wages are creating a wage-price spiral.
More needs to be done to combat inflation, but the government continues to spend, Brady said, and no one is doing anything about workforce and reconnecting workers. Workers are scarce which will continue to drive wages up, and regulatory costs are also playing a role in rising prices, Brady said.
Brady would also like to see Congress work to reform the retirement system for those who don’t save because they can’t afford to do so, which would help all taxpayers in the long run.
Earlier that week, Sen. John Cornyn’s staff members told the Chamber representatives that the two toughest issues before Congress are workforce and supply chain matters.
With the country’s workforce in transition, more investment needs to be made in community colleges, staff said, and the longer people are out of the COVID-19 crisis, the more people will want to go back to work.
On the positive side, Cornyn staffers noted the passing of a bill that is enabling containers at ports to get in easier. And the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors and Science Act of 2022 passed in August will have a benefit three or four years from now.
Cornyn’s office said the senator is also trying to keep decisions on energy, renewables and climate change out of federal hands.
The meeting also covered immigration, which spans a lot of issues on the workforce side. The consensus was that border security comes first, but the region needs the labor.
Thus, a border solutions bill is needed. In the meantime though, the group noted that the area is not getting any financial support for its borders and its ports of entry.
At a meeting with the Department of Transportation, Conroe’s Scheiner told staff that the area’s growth is a big challenge. The population tripling in size over the last 20 years has led to more and more traffic congestion.
Staff told those from Conroe about new discretionary programs where local entities can apply directly and not necessarily go through state DOT offices. Staffers also suggested the Chamber look at ways to be innovative and reminded the group that all federal DOT programs have an equity component.
DOT staff also noted that in 2022 the department rolled out bridge infrastructure, national electrification and carbon reduction programs — and that a big focus is on multimodalism, and all the different forms of transportation to consider for increasing mobility.
At the Department of Commerce session, Conroe Chamber members heard from staff about how that department might help communities innovate and be more relevant in a worldwide economy.
Staff told the Chamber group that there are 13 different agencies within the department, the only agency of the federal government to focus exclusively on economic development.
Sustainable development is one of the DOC’s investment priorities, staff said, as is equity primary investment priority to underserved communities.
Staff said the DOC supports regional development and economic strategies through funding almost 400 economic development districts around the country. Having updates of
economic development strategies can keep regions from duplicating things, staff said.
The department is there to help with economic gardening, helping places grow their own business communities by providing technical assistance, potential access to capital through grants and loans and to attract more businesses from around the country and the world.
An Impactful Trip
All told, Pilgrim said the trip helped the Chamber hone its skills in engaging and influencing officials and departments, while establishing points of contact.
The Chamber’s plan is to keep sending a delegation to visit Washington one year, then visit Austin the following year. Pilgrim said that means he and others intend to hit the state capital to meet with legislators prior to Montgomery County Days in February.
For more information about upcoming advocacy events, visit conroe.org/governmental-advocacy.
