Ask your House Member to Pass The Damn Bill. Tell your Senators YES on reconciliation. Ask Repubs whether they support the Ryan budget proposal (e.g., tossing Social Security and Medicare to the private sector). Switchboard: (202) 224-3121. Guide for first timers here.
Also, take the poll. Please answer honestly; it will help us to gauge whether this blog had any impact on the process. If you phone a lot, please estimate how often in the poll’s comments.
Thanks!
***Update***
The poll’s internal comments seem fairly hard to use, so if you phone a lot just leave an estimate in the comments of this post.
***Update 2***
Steve Benen has a nice summary of recent developments. Short version: not much has changed, so you can still influence the process by getting on the horn with your Reps.
MR Bill
DAng. I can call (and have, and emailed) the odious Nathan Deal, the Ridiculous Saxby “Foghorn Leghorn” Chambless, and the “I used to be a Moderate” Johnny Issacson, but it won’t make a snowflake in Hell’s difference.
Lolis
I called everyone I could but both my Senators are Republicans.
tdd
I live in Washington, DC. I have no senators or voting congressional representation.
David in NY
I used to be skeptical, but I found that a bunch of calls to liberal Democrats (others were making them too) seemed to focus their attention. I think Republicans ought to be told that not all their constituents are idiots.
I made 2-3 calls to two Reps who are arguably mine (one district where I vote, another where I pay housing and school taxes and contribute to the Rep). My Brooklyn rep seemed at sea after the Scott Brown debacle, but has now gotten it together. My upstate rep, Scott Murphy, actually voted against the house bill in the first place, but is now supporting the public option. He must have heard from some folks, and it must have had some effect.
I gotta get on the Senators — also on this Shelby hold on all nominees!!! Yikes!
kindness
Shouldn’t the focus be on the Senate right now? I mean, the House has clearly said they won’t pass the Senate’s bill till the Senate serves up the fix to it’s bill. Who can blame them? We all know for a fact that if the House were to pass the Senate’s bill without the fix in place, the Senate would tell the House to go Cheney themselves wrt the fix. You can’t deny they’d do exactly that.
Max
Called me congresscritter, Barbara Lee. Senators are Boxer and DiFi. I have to believe they will support the Pres.
David in NY
The Edit she come, the Edit she go.
cat48
Called the Waterloo SC ones plus I always impersonate my daughter who lives in IL and called her Congress folks also,too.
KDP
Called Stark’s office, told the staffer that I understood Stark has been a longtime advocate of comprehensive reform and that this bill is not what he would like, but that I felt it provided a foundation on which to build. Also, told the staffer that I would be calling my Senators to ask them to support reconciliation. He offered me their numbers.
Called Boxer and Feinstein and gave the same spiel to their staffers. Threw in my support for effective financial reform and my frustration with the deliberate obstructionism of the Republicans and the apparent ineffectiveness of Senate leadership to take action in response.
jeffreyw
I’ll get right on this, right after breakfast.
MR Bill
Jefferyw, cut raisin (or blueberry or cranberry, or any bread) very thin, spread a layer of yogurt on it, and sandwich it with another thin slice. Then make french toast of that….mmmmm.
Houstonian
Called my Rep., Sheila Jackson Lee in TX, again this morning. Got a new person answering the phone today. This intern said they’d been getting a lot of calls on it, but the calls are mixed – some for, some against. This is the first time I’ve gotten this indication from anyone answering the phone in her office. I wonder if it means the teabaggers are getting their act together and are starting phone campaigns.
Calls matter. Please call your Rep. if you want this bill passed.
jeffreyw
@MR Bill: Sounds good, tho I almost never have any yogurt around.
J. Michael Neal
OT: I’ve got another interview. This one is with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, as an Assistant National Bank Examiner. So, if I get it, I could let people know what is actually going on.
Except then I’d have to kill you.
MR Bill
@Jefferyw, jam or peanut butter (the elvis uses peanut butter and banana bread..) or Nutella work…
aym
I called my rep and my new Senator. As a MA resident I never felt my calls would have much impact since they typically were voting the way I wanted them to. Now I’m looking forward to being a thorn in Scott Brown’s side.
Martin
I’ve called both Senators. My rep is 100% distilled wingnut (John Campbell). Rather than waste my breath, we’ll be working to replace his crazy ass in November.
My senators don’t really need my encouragement, but maybe it’ll help in some way.
Rich
What are people telling or asking their Senators? I called my rep., and told her (nicely) to PTDB. But, for the Senators (and both mine are D’s), are we asking them to use reconciliation to fix problems with their own bill if the House passes it? Do I have that straight?
Fitzwili
I called my congressperson as well as other various my congresspeople who have been talking to the press about HCR- ie nadler and weiner
I called both my senators
as well as senators who have been talking about their positions on HCR to the press- ie Dobbs, Spector
I have called Reid and Pelosi
as well as White House
I have called any politicians that I have donated to and mentioned that although I might not be their constituent I have donated thru ActBlue to them
Mumphrey
I called Webb and Warner twice, and my congressman, Gerry Connolly twice. I’m thinking about calling them all again today. What the hell? Can’t hurt, I guess.
I told them all that I know the bill sucks, but that we need to begin with something, and this is the something we have to work with.
My family and I are lucky: we have insurance, but there are a lot of people who don’t. I don’t want millions of my fellow citizens wait for 15 years just because the bill as it is now doesn’t meet my exacting standards. So maybe our taxes will go up; I don’t know. Maybe there’s nothing in it that will help us any right now; I don’t know that, either. But, you know what? We can afford it, and if I’m not willing to suck it up and deal with a little bother and with not getting just what I want right when I want it, then there isn’t much to say for me. We’re all in this together.
All right, now I’ve fired myself up to call again!
janeform
I called Dingell and commended him for his efforts on health care. Hardly necessary, but thought it couldn’t hurt. Staffer said it was his top priority and has been for 53 years.
Levin’s office was lame in the extreme. Staffer said that the Senate had already passed a bill, which was very different from the house bill. The Senate is at an impasse, that’s just political reality. When I asked that Sen. Levin show some leadership on the issue, staffer replied that Levin is not in the leadership, and that the Majority Leader sets the schedule. I looked at Levin’s website and there’s nothing on HC on the front page. What an ass. Reminds me of when Levin blew sunshine up McCain’s ass during the MCA vote. A real profile in courage.
I keep getting Stabenow’s voicemail but will keep trying. Maybe she’s getting a lot of calls, hopefully on the right side of the issue.
TooManyJens
I called my Republican rep and asked about the Ryan budget proposal, but the LA for that issue was in a meeting so I left a voice mail.
Called Burris’ office just now. That was weird. I said that I was calling to ask how things were coming with getting fixes to the HCR bill passed via reconciliation, and how the Senator was planning to vote if that happened. The staffer said “I’ll pass that along to the Senator, thank you.” I was a little too baffled to ask, “wait, you’ll pass along that I’m asking? Do you want to know my opinion? Is there an answer to these questions?”
Going to call Durbin next.
Thank you very much for having these threads. The poll in particular is really motivating me to make the calls that I’ve been putting off all week — I want to be able to vote “yes, called ’em all”!
Snowwy
Gods I love my Rep. Just called Barbara Lee’s office. She’s a Progressive, not an emogressive, and gets that suckful as the bill is, if there’s no real alternative the thing to do is hold her nose and vote for it.
And this is the one and only person who voted against invading Afghanistan, so you know she doesn’t lack the courage of her convictions.
celiadexter
I read somewhere that Congress pays the most attention to snail mail — particularly handwritten snail mail — so that’s what I did with Rangel, Schumer and Gillibrand, in addition to calling Rangel’s office.
Socraticsilence
Too bad this isn’t happening 4 months from now- I got an internship offer from Big Max’s office over winter break.
mcc
@Snowwy: Interesting, what did Lee’s office specifically say about the Senate bill?
Snowshoe
I called both senators. For Burris, they weren’t answering in Washington and his mailbox was full, so I called his Springfield office. I told them very emphatically to do whatever it takes to give cover to the House for passing the bill, and I also mentioned that since he’s not running again, this will be his only chance for a legacy. I think the staffer agreed with me, for whatever that’s worth.
Durbin’s office also wasn’t answering their D.C. phone (and hasn’t been the last several times I’ve tried), so I went through his Springfield office as well. The staffer suggested that I try email, but I told her I was concerned that no one would read it. So she promised to pass my message along and get me a written response. She also said Durbin is working as hard as he can to get this passed–hope she’s right.
I couldn’t bear to call my Republican rep yet again. He’s a jerk, but at least he’s sent me a written response saying that although he knows we disagree on specifics, he’s committed to doing what he can to reform health care. Of course, for him that means tort reform and nothing else, so he’s no help.
Sarah in Brooklyn
i cant get through to the switchboard. it just rings and rings
mcc
@kindness: My personal take: At this point the reports seem to be saying that the House and Senate leadership have committed to attempting the sidecar strategy and are trying to talk out how that would work behind closed doors. Once a sidecar bill gets written, the thing to do will be to pressure the Senate to accept it. However that will take time and it sounds like anyway the Dems would rather not put it out in the open until they have progress on the jobs bill. Until there’s an actual sidecar bill to point at and say “pass this” it seems like there will be a limited extent to which constituents can get Senators to take a position on this sort of abstract strategy thing that we can’t, as people calling in, absolutely be certain the leadership is ultimately going to go with.
So it seems like the important thing at this point is to just keep the process moving– to get both Senators and Representatives to commit to passing the bill “one way or another”. We need to be pressuring members of both houses to do the right thing when the time comes, and things aren’t solid enough for it to make a difference that when the time comes the Senate will need to act first.
mcc
( The other important thing is for the White House to not go off message and cast doubt on the process :P )
low-tech cyclist
Made my PTDB calls to Rep. Hoyer and Sens. Cardin and Mikulski. Due probably to the snow, I only got answering machines at Hoyer’s and Mikulski’s office, but I left succinct messages, urging Mikulski to support reconciliation, and urging Hoyer to use his office to PTD(Senate)B.
At Cardin’s office, I continue to get the dodge that he ‘supports health care reform’ but has no position on reconciliation. I made the point that the absence of a position on reconciliation is, at this point, equivalent to a willingness to let health care reform die, and represents a pretty low level of support for actually getting health care reform passed in this Congress.
If a whip count is still being kept, it should reflect Cardin’s unwillingness to commit on reconciliation, and not count him as a supporter of reconciliation.
Lurker
Adam Schiff’s staffer now knows me by name. I don’t know if that’s good or not.
-+-
Jane Bryant Quinn: “No health reform? You lose.”
http://janebryantquinn.com/2010/02/no-health-reform-you-lose/
Ben
Hi, I had a similar thought, to try to get people to call their House rep (or senator) to tell them to pass health care, and ended up making a web site about it a few days back (which you can check out here). Though it may have run out of steam for the moment as I’ve run out of personal friends to cajole, and I lack a blog to drive traffic to it. Your single post has probably been more effective so far! (in fact, I got here trying to google for my site).
I also just created a Facebook group, I called my congressperson to say ‘pass healthcare’!, which people who’ve called so far might enjoy joining.
I like your guide to calling, which I might link to if you don’t mind. Oh and finally, I called Pascrell in NJ.