Baltic Advocacy Week
Mission
Help protect Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania through meetings with Congressional staff.
Thank you to all our participants!
Goals
- Increase size of House Baltic Caucus & Senate Baltic Freedom Caucus
- Provide more funding for military support
- Garner support for the Transatlantic Telecommunications Security Act
Details
- UPDATE: Meetings will be scheduled during business hours between March 8-12
- Format: Zoom or conference call, depending on staffer preferences
- Participants may be asked to join meetings for Congressional Offices that do not represent them
- Please note that there will be a limited number of constituent meetings - other ways to participate will be made available.
Preparations
- We'll make the script, an issue one-pager, & more, which we'll pass along later. All issues are currently described on Baltivist for members
- A training will be hosted via Zoom closer to Baltic Advocacy Week
- Even if you don't know anything about the issues or anything about Congress - that's ok! Even if you want to just come, but not speak, that's ok too!
Resources available for Baltivist members
- Participants will be added to a group on Baltivist.com to meet other participants and get questions answered
- Congressional Power Map for Baltic issues
- Get to know all the issues facing the Baltics in Congress
- Anyone who completes the quiz below will receive a free year's subscription to Baltivist.com
Partners
QUIZ
How much do you know about the Baltics? Test your knowledge then get a free year on Baltivist.com
Results
Thanks for taking the quiz!
Share Baltivist with your friends so we can keep growing the community that’s keeping Congress in check to protect Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania!
Oops. That’s ok – I never did well on tests either.
Let’s review the answers and try again – you’ve got this.
#1. What military alliance are Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania a part of?
In 2004, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania joined NATO. NATO has an article that states that provides that an attack against one member nation is an attack against all. The only time a NATO country has been attacked and called for other nations to support was the US after September 11th, 2001.
All three Baltic nations, despite only joining after September 11th, responded by sending troops to fight the War on Terror.
#2. All NATO countries are asked to spend 2% of GDP on military spending. Which of the following countries meet this? (Mark all that apply)
Select all that apply:
All three Baltic nations meet the NATO 2% threshold. All NATO nations are asked to spend 2% of their GDP’s on the military by 2024. The countries that currently spend 2% are:
Greece, UK, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Poland, Bulgaria, USA.
#3. What is the name of the group that is actively fighting online disinformation spread by Russian government "trolls"
Lithuanian Nykstukai, translated as “Elves”, coordinate with NATO to combat Russian disinformation – otherwise known as fake news.
#4. What is the name of the pipeline Russia is trying to build that would increase their control of energy over Europe?
Nord Stream 2 is a trap. It would reduce energy costs in Europe, but would increase the power of Russia, which gains a lot of political power from energy. We are strongly opposed to the construction of this pipeline.
The Baltic community and other allies have successfully advocated for 2 bills to sanction companies that would construct the pipeline, despite multimillion dollar lobbying efforts by Russian gas giants.
#5. Who chairs the Senate Baltic Freedom Caucus? (Mark all that apply)
Select all that apply:
Both Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) co-chair the Senate Baltic Freedom Caucus. They’ve both done an incredible job to rally other Senators behind the Baltic cause when we need help.
Senator Dick Durbin is Lithuanian-American himself!
#6. Who chairs the House Baltic Caucus? (Mark all that apply)
Select all that apply:
The House Baltic Caucus has over 70 members. It was originally founded by Representative John Shimkus (R-IL) an American of Lithuanian descent who was convinced by a member of the Baltic American Freedom League to start the Caucus.
The House Baltic Caucus has been instrumental to get Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania to join NATO, among many other successes.
Both Representative Gallego of Arizona and Representative Don Bacon of Nebraska joined as co-chairs in 2021. Fun fact about Rep. Don Bacon, he represents Omaha, Nebraska, which is the home to some of the best Napoleonas cake made by the Lithuanian Bakery.
#7. What is the name of the Central/East European infrastructure development program backed by Congress?
The Three Seas Initiative is named for the region that borders the Baltic, Black, and Adriatic Seas. The goal of the 3 Seas Initiative is to spur infrastructure development. The Baltic community and its allies has been advocating successfully to get the United States to help invest over $1 billion to the Three Seas Initiative.
#8. Which hero with Baltic roots has a statue in front of the White House?
Tadeusz Kosziuszko fought in the American Revolutionary War for his belief in the ideals of a new United States of America that believes in equality. In fact, his friend Thomas Jefferson wrote “He is as pure a son of liberty as I have ever known.”
In Kosziuszko’s will, he requested that his estate be sold to buy the freedom and education of black slaves, including the slaves of Jefferson, so they could have independent lives and work. The will, unfortunately, was never executed.
