Ted Cruz repeatedly spoke of the need to lower premiums and repeatedly dodged my question on whether he'd vote against a bill that doesn't.
— Matt Fuller (@MEPFuller) June 20, 2017
We can take Senator Cruz’s objective to the absurdist end. No coverage is effectively modeled as a $0 premium plan with an unlimited deductible, a horrendous network and even worse pricing.
So if that is not the vision and logical end point of what you want, call the Senate this morning.
rikyrah
Call call call!
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Ted Cruize believes as a matter of religious faith that collecting no taxes and no government spending will cause the economy to expand infinity.
low-tech cyclist
As a Maryland resident, I’ve got 2 Dem Senators. One of my calls to them last week was to encourage them to refuse unanimous consent to routine Senate business. Yesterday, I called up to thank them for doing just that.
BBA
“You see, you unfortunately plumped for our ‘never-pay’ policy, which, you know, if you never claim is very worthwhile, but you had to claim, and, well, there it is.”
Marmot
There’s an Indivisible protest at Cruz’s office at 2pm today. I’ll be there. As with the similar event at Cornyn’s office, we’ll probably tell staffers our stories in small groups.
J.J. Pickle Federal Building (courtyard)
300 E. 8th Suite 961
Austin, TX 78701
Fellow Austinites, you go too!
Mnemosyne
I sent faxes to both of my Dem Senators last week asking them to stand tough. For all of the issues I have with Feinstein, I don’t see her crumbling and voting for whatever POS bill the R’s come up with.
Nelle
I have two Republican senators. I call every day, mostly alternating between DC and local offices. The lips of the staffers are sealed as to the senators inclinations and intentions. They are getting intensely patronizing and placating. “We want to hear from our constituents. ” “The seBator has no comment until he can read the bill.” When I express alarm about ten hours from bill being available to read and vote, I’m told not to be vulnerable to rumour. I’ve been polite and kind but it is becoming increasingly challenging to remain that way.
frosty
Does it help to make the same call and leave the same voicemail every day? Do they take down the names of the callers, because they ask for name and zip code, if not the full address.
I’ve never talked to a live voice at the DC offices of either Toomey or Casey.
Nelle
I don’t expect I will make a difference. I’m teaching myself persistence, something we all might learn from Republicans. Do the action and accept that you can’t control outcome. But we can still do right action. And balance phone calls with building community and try to let people see that the opposition is kind, not some evil caricature.
wvng
I called Capito again. Her staff seems tired, but it probably won’t make a difference.
JDM
As long as you vote on the bill before getting a CBO scoring, you can pretend to be surprised, and oh so disappointed, when it ends up raising premiums.
And as we’ve seen, a lot of people will buy that BS.
mousebumples
Called both my Senators today. Senator Baldwin is against, and has spoken on the Senate floor against it. I encouraged the staffer to suggest that she do whatever is necessary to slow or stop the bill.
Senator Johnson’s office seems to be wavering. He made a public statement earlier that it needs to be open for public discussion and awareness prior to the vote, and his staffer told me that he won’t support it unless it’s “an improvement” on the current state of affairs. I asked her what he would consider to be “an improvement,” and I got nowhere. I asked if he would pledge to vote against any bill that resulted in a loss of coverage to his constituents, and I got a meandering nothing in response. I told them that I’m a pharmacist, and I really re-iterated how much the removal of the benefits of Obamacare would decimate our local community.
I’m debating whether his public wavering stance is smoke and mirrors or fact based on the calls and the like that they’ve been getting. I was also on hold for a few minutes before being connected, so that means that people are calling.
Ohio Mom
Portman’s staff isn’t answering the phone today so I left messages. Been trying what is usually my ace in the hole, which is the 800 Constituent Hotline and it’s busy.
I think the hotline is meant for people who are having issues with a federal agency, want tickets to see Congress in actuon, that sort of thing. I don’t think they are the best place to discuss policy issues but they tend to answer the phone more than the regular offices do and I like talking to a human being (though I’m coming to doubt the humanity of those smarmy interns).
The 800 is listed under the Columbus office, bottom of Portman’s homepage, if anyone is reading this and wants to try it.
Betsy
This post is why I love that you are a front-pager!