Take action TODAY and TOMORROW as if your life depended on it.
— Topher Spiro (@TopherSpiro) June 26, 2017
Call the Senate. Call the House. Call your governor to call your Senator.
Alain has given us some very useful tools on the right hand column so use them!
Dave
tom
Just tried calling the DC offices of both of my Michigan senators (Stabenow and Peters). For both, their lines were busied out, and their voice mailboxes were full.
eric
@tom: We are the most powerful nation on earth and ordinary people have technology that allows them to have personal video chats around the world, and yet, Congress allows themselves limited voicemail space? WTF
Betty Cracker
I actually reached a human being at Senator Bill Nelson’s DC office after a brief hold. The aide sounded harried and harassed but grateful for a supportive call.
Left my umpteenth message at Lil’ Marco’s DC office urging him to do the unexpected and vote NO. He won’t, but at least he knows his constituents oppose Trumpcare.
? ?? Goku (aka Junior G-Man) ? ?
@eric: It does have the fortunate side benefit of never having to listen to constituents who disagree with you
Betty Cracker
@eric: It’s outrageous, but we can still email, write, tweet and fax!
MomSense
@tom: @eric:
Same for me with Collins. Her offices used to be super responsive but now the calls all go to voicemail and usually I get a voicemail box full message.
I think they are doing this intentionally.
Gin & Tonic
@? ?? Goku (aka Junior G-Man) ? ?: Their constituents are the people they schmooze with at those high-dollar private retreats, and they listen to them any time the constituents want. You, citizen, are just somebody who happens to live in their district, and your opinions are irrelevant.
Just like those Gmail users who consider themselves Google’s “customers”, it is a popular and useful delusion, but it is still a delusion.
tom
@MomSense: Stabenow and Peters are both on the side of the angels in this case, and I think they do appreciate the support.
acallidryas
@Betty Cracker: I’ve had some luck with Rubio’s Orlando office, although it usually takes a couple of tries.
Marcopolo
So one strategy for folks getting voicemails that are full: find a local office for your senator in your state that is in a less populated area and call there. Some numbers get a hell of a lot more traffic than others.
InternetDragons
Re-posting the link to Indivisible’s guide for opposing Trumpcare. It’s got lots of accessible, practical suggestions:
https://www.indivisibleguide.com/resource/stop-trumpcare-june-action-plan/
Ohio Mom
When I worked outside the home, which I did for two decades in both the private and non-profit sectors, if there was extra work, if it was crunch time, we put in extra hours.
Obviously this is not true for the workers in these Republican Party offices. They keep the proverbial bankers’ hours. Once again, it is “personal responsibility” and “no free lunch” for thee, not me.
The only Portman office with a working voice mail at the moment is the Washington one. The five Ohio lines either have full mailboxes or don’t pick up. I wrote an email, left two voice messages at the DC number. Didn’t think to call the governor or my representative but will do that next.
Betty Cracker
@acallidryas: I used to be able to reach someone at Rubio’s Tampa office, but thanks to the Resistance, he got kicked out!
Marcopolo
Also, we had an emergency post-card signing party yesterday in St Louis that ran for 4 hours in the afternoon (with cake!). I stayed there for a couple hours after finishing writing mine chatting with folks as they came and left. A couple observations: apparently we need to do a much better job of getting the word out to melanin advantaged folks (of the sixty or so folks I met only one was not Caucasian). We had two families who came by with their young adult disabled kids (one with MS the other on the autism spectrum) who also joined in writing with us. The general consensus is this POS bill passes (and that the folks in the room weren’t going to change Roy Blunt’s vote) but we weren’t going to take it lying down. Glad I went.
And St Louis area people there will be one more visibility protest (sponsored by Indivisible StL and MO Jobs for Justice) Wednesday at 11:30 in front of Blunt’s local office @ Hanley & Old Bonhomme.
Betty
For Pennsylvania, Casey is getting lots of support for his vocal opposition, and Toomey, as demonstrated on TV yesterday, is a lost cause.
hedgehog mobile
Left a message at Gardner’s DC office.
frosty
Calling the gov to lean on Toomey is an interesting approach. Can’t hurt and maybe the gov can explain to him in words of one syllable what he’s doing to the state.
Greg in PDX
Fortunately, I live in Oregon and our Senators and our Governor have publicly stated many times that they will fight Trump and the Republicans on this to the bitter end.
tobie
Does anyone know if the human chain at 5 pm at the Capitol is still on for tomorrow?
JR in WV
Yesterday Sen. Sanders was in Charleston WV for a rally. I got a call from an OFA rep asking, well I’m not sure what they were going to ask, because cut him off with my personal anti-Sanders rant. I told him that Sanders was responsible for the nation having to deal with Trump, and they were out of their minds for supporting the man.
When we drove into town for the downtown art show on the main downtown street, we went right by the Municipal Auditorium where the event was scheduled, and it was dead quiet, people standing around to direct non-existent traffic. Which on the one hand was sad, as it was an anti-Trumpcare rally, but on the other hand I’m personally pleased if no one showed up for Sanders and his economic woe rally.
I have called people before, and will again today and tomorrow:
Senator Shelly Moore Capito (R-bankers)
Senator Joe Manchin (DINO)
Representative Evan Jenkins (R-coal)
This is a pretty sad list. But I’m going to call anyway.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
his guy’s a Republican strategist
I can’t copy the tweet, but the trump PAC is going after Heller and his staffer
tobie
@JR in WV: I hear you loud and clear and feel the same way but right now even I’m ready to put aside my fury regarding Wilmer to fight the Republican unHealthcare Plan. We don’t need to be united on everything but on this one thing we do. We’re careening into an oligarchic ditch and its damn frightening.
Scott
Tried all weekend to call Cruz. All lines, local and DC, as well as faxes were busy. Probably intentional. Got through to Cornyn though.
As if anything makes a difference to those two sociopaths.
The Very Reverend Crimson Fire of Compassion
Called Blunt and McCaskill this morning. And last Thursday, and last Tuesday, and last Friday, etc., etc.
Mnemosyne
For people whose Senators aren’t answering the phones or fax machines at all, contacting your governor is probably a good plan. Make them feel the pain as well.
And if you have the time, bring your letter to the local office for your senator. If the office is closed, tape your letter to the door.
low-tech cyclist
Don’t forget to call your Representative in the House. If this bill passes the Senate (God forbid), it’ll likely be taken up almost immediately in the House. Might as well start letting our Representatives know NOW how we feel about the Senate bill.
rikyrah
How Republicans justify ignoring public attitudes on health care
06/26/17 10:30 AM
By Steve Benen
…………………………
Vox’s Sarah Kliff attended an event last week and heard a candid remark from an unnamed Republican member of Congress.
And in this American lawmaker’s mind, those who didn’t vote for him or her just aren’t especially important.
If this perspective sounds at all familiar, it’s because Donald Trump has explicitly endorsed it. At a White House press conference in March, the president acknowledged the progressive activists who’ve taken to the streets in condemn his agenda, but Trump dismissed their relevance.
“I mean, they fill up our rallies with people that you wonder how they get there,” Trump said, referring to GOP lawmakers who received earfuls at town-hall events, “but they’re not the Republican people that our representatives are representing.”
In other words, “Republican people” count, and others don’t. “Republican people” deserve to be represented on Capitol Hill, and everyone else deserves to be disregarded.
tobie
Slew of decisions out from the Supreme Court. State money can be used to fund Church properties (aargh); preliminary injunction on Muslim ban lifted except in cases where people from the six identified countries can demonstrate a relationship with a bona fide US person or entity. A sponsoring agency like, say, the Red Cross or Catholic Relief Charities of America would count.
rikyrah
An inconvenient truth in the health care debate: ‘People will die’
06/26/17 09:00 AM
By Steve Benen
On Friday, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) raised an important argument against the Republican health care plan: “Let us be clear and this is not trying to be overly dramatic: Thousands of people will die if the Republican health care bill becomes law.” Soon after, Hillary Clinton added, “Forget death panels. If Republicans pass this bill, they’re the death party.”
Such talk didn’t impress Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah). “The brief time when we were not accusing those we disagree with of murder was nice while it lasted,” the Republican senator wrote.
……………………………………….
The trouble is, whether the truth hurts Republicans’ feelings or not, there’s ample reason to believe Sanders’ and Clinton’s point is true. The Washington Post ran this striking quote over the weekend:
Atul Gawande also spoke to Vox about the available evidence. “The bottom line,” the surgeon and scholar said, “is that if you’re passing a bill that cuts $1.2 trillion in taxes that have paid for health care coverage, there’s almost no way that does not end up terminating insurance for large numbers of people. If you are doing that, then there’s clear evidence that you will be harming people. You will be hurting their access to care. You will be harming their health – their physical health and mental health. There will be deaths. As a doctor, I find this unconscionable.”
JR in WV
Well, I called both Senators and our Congressman (using that word figuratively as opposed to literally), and got through to a human being for all three.
Congressman (using the word loosely) Evan Jenkins’s Washington office picked up immediately, and I told the person answering that I wanted to urge Congressman Jenkins to change his position on the health care tax cut bill, and urged him to work to convince Senator Capito to vote against the bill. The aide asked how to spell my name and my home town, and I added my zip code and my $0.02 cents worth.
Senator Manchin’s (DINO) Washington office answered also, and I told them that I wanted to support Manchin’s opposition to the health care tax cut, and to encourage him to work to convince Senator Capito to refuse to vote for the bill when it came up. Also gave them my hometown zip and name.
Senator Capito (R) Washington office threw the call to voice mail almost instantly after telling me that line was busy. I left a brief message, constituent, hometown, told the machine I oppose the Health Care bill.
Then I called a local office for Senator Shelly Moore Capito, and got a human, who I told that I was a constituent, named my hometown, gave them my name, told them I opposed the Health Care bill, that it would harm many elderly folks in WV and cause many rural clinics and hospitals to close, costing us jobs and forcing people into lengthy ambulance trips for dangerous health events or on the job injuries.
They were like “DUH?” really, seemed that they didn’t care that I was calling or what I thought… a little surprising that they would let a calling constituent know they disrespected them, unprofessional, really. But Republicans feel free to be like that, and are surprised if they get called on it. So I’m thinking about writing a letter to the editor to call her on constituent care and harming the state. Not that it would change her mind, but still….
I wish the calls had made me feel better about things, but they didn’t. The Rs don’t care about what they intend to do, how it will effect people. And they don’t mind making that crystal clear obvious to people calling their offices. Amazing!
MomSense
@tom:
Sen. King has actual human beings answer the phones and they do seem pleased with the support.
@Marcopolo:
Yes,I am calling the state offices and they too now go directly to an automated response with menu prompts instead of human beings.
Ian G.
So what do those of us who have non-sociopath senators (Gillibrand and Schumer) do?
tom
@Ian G.: Call them and express your support. They need to hear from their constituents that they are doing the right thing.
NCSteve
I have faxed my opposition to the unhearing, uncaring attention of Sens. Burr and Tillis and my representative, dear, sweet Ginny Foxx. So, with that out of the way, here’s the ugly truth that’s too nasty and bitter for us to face squarely. The choice before Republican “moderates” (and only them, because God knows Democrats are completely out of it) isn’t between voting on whatever ACA-repeal abomination comes out of conference or killing it and letting the ACA continue as is.
Rather, it’s a choice between Republicans taking ownership of the chaos and destruction they are determined to unleash on the entire healthcare sector by voting for the AHCA or trying to offload responsibility for the chaos and destruction onto Democrats by continued sabotage of the ACA and claiming the structures they’re dynamiting collapsed on their own.
And by that standard, over the long term, it’s better for the nation if they have to take ownership of the harm they’re hellbent on causing in order to increase the value of the capital gains income tax break for about 400 wealthy–mostly obscenely so–taxpayers. The only thing to recommend the latter course to us is that it might buy a reprieve for Medicaid at the cost of the complete collapse of the private individual insurance market and premium spirals for employer provided insurance.
I say this as someone “with skin in the game” to use their favorite phrase. I changed jobs largely because the premium on my unsubsidized crappy bronze Exchange policy doubled in two years, partly because Republicans killed the risk adjustment corridor in 2014 and the Kochtopus Imperial state legislature rejected Medicaid expansion and it was literally threatening my ability to hold on to my house, but mostly based on my assumption that as of Election Night, my chances of holding on even to that terrible policy were slim to none.
And, worse, I recently discovered I’ve got a non-life threatening condition that guarantees I’m going to have to have an expensive bit of surgery sometime in the next one to five years, depending on how long it takes to unfold. So now I have a built-in pre-existing condition. One I could leave untreated at the cost of a drastic reduction in quality of life, meaning I am chained to working for a company that provides health insurance for the next few years, no matter what at precisely the time employers are once again going to find it more and more difficult to provide insurance.
But the important thing is that families earning more than 250K will get their full 19.6% tax break on their capital gains income rather than having to struggle along with a mere 15.8% break.
dlm
@frosty: Toomey is an arrogant prick. FYIGM is his motto.
mai naem mobile
Called Flake. He hasn’t read the bill. Apparently he was too busy reading the Koch agenda this w/e to waste time on reading the bill. John McCain is unreachable at count ’em, 4 offices. Fuck him and his Dolt 45 appointee wife.
dlm
@mai naem mobile: There is no limit to the scorn I feel towards these low grade human organisms.
Ohio Mom
Often when I share a fact with one of those smarmy interns, I do what teachers call a”comprehension check.”
Today, for example, when I was talking about the bad old days, I asked if they knew what rescission was — made them explain it in their own words or gave them examples (I made three successful calls, one each to Portman, Kasich and my Rep).
Some of my questions are gimmes: I ask if they’ve heard of Harvard before I share the results of Harvard’s 2009 study that showed 40,000 Americans dying each year from lack of coverage. Then I ask them to do the math of how many 9/11’s that is equivalent to.
Does any of this have an effect, I do not know. But it is entertaining to me.
dlm
@Ohio Mom: Good for you! I’ve quizzed my reps interns once or twice. Some of these interns are as nasty and clueless as the politicians they work for.
Mnemosyne
@Ian G.:
Call and thank them for standing firm.
Juju
I faxed Burr and Tillis as well.
Elie
@NCSteve:
This – godammit – THIS
Sometimes this is what you have… this is what we are left with — a shit sandwich either way. They will destroy healthcare as we know it either way and not much can seem to be done. There is no expressed desire on their part to remotely fix ACA. Only to repeal or not repeal but in either instance, they will hurt us and hurt this country in ways that they cannot even imagine. I wobble between flat out rage and despair and I pray for us …