Phone Calls Flood Congress

Yesterday afternoon I decided to give my congressman, Democrat Paul Hodes from New Hampshire's second district, another friendly little reminder about the perils of voting in favor of the health care industry takeover bill.  I dialed his Washington office phone number again... and again... busy.  It turns out a lot of people had the same idea.

Members continued to be inundated with phone calls from constituents and interest groups Friday thanks to an impending vote on health care reform this weekend.

Calls to the House numbered close to 100,000 an hour, creating a bottleneck in a phone system only meant to handle 50,000 calls an hour. The chamber has been similarly overloaded for four consecutive days, beginning on Tuesday when radio host Rush Limbaugh told viewers to call the Capitol switchboard phone number.

Jeff Ventura, spokesman for Chief Administrative Officer Dan Beard, said the problem was essentially unsolvable. The issue lies with the capacity of the cables buried underneath the Capitol complex — and even if those could be dug up and replaced, Members simply don’t have enough staff to answer so many calls, he said.

Once again, Hodes' Washington office phone number is 202-225-5206.  Give him a call and tell him how you feel.

Comments

[jorod]

This is history...we may be seeing the establishment of a Soviet-style bureaucracy in the United States....

[jorod]

Why don't we just abolish the mortgage interest deduction and replace it with the cost of health insurance deduction. (and tax employer provided health insurance) We would solve two problems at once...the over investment in real estate and increasing cost of health care.

[Common Sense]

Thanks for the number Tom.....I phoned Hodes office in Washington and got through right away (to one of staff). I explained I was disgusted with the yes vote he made on such a pathetic and UN American bill and would do everything I could to make sure he isn't re-elected. I work for a government agency (oh the irony) so I'm wondering if this is the reason I got through so easy....my calls show up as U.S Government.