Unhappy voters jam Capitol Hill phone lines

[emilyg]

By Lisa Desjardins
CNN


WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The recent debate over the nearly $900 billion economic stimulus plan and revelations of tax problems by three Obama administration appointees have voters angrily jamming phone lines on Capitol Hill to air their frustrations to their elected representatives.


Voters are calling several congressional offices, complaining about stimulus negotations.

Their reactions are putting pressure on Congress and benefiting watchdog groups on both sides of the political aisle.

Capitol operators tell CNN Radio that phone lines have been jammed for the past two weeks, sometimes prompting busy signals.

A spokeswoman for Sen. Jim Webb, D-Virginia, said calls on the sweeping stimulus plan jumped from eight during all of January to hundreds a day now.

In a sampling of 12 Senate offices, half had so many messages that their voicemail boxes were full.

It's because of people like Betty Davidson.

"I'm very upset!" exclaimed the 63-year-old from Laguna Hills, California.

She called her senators Tuesday, frustrated with the almost $900 billion-dollar economic recovery proposal. Watch more on the stimulus debate in the Senate »

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/02/04/voter.anger/index.html

[mth44sc]

1. What rock have these folk been living under?

Take to the phones good people!

[bdamomma]

2. get on those phones, the Senate is still working on C Span 2

they better just vote the stimulus now.

[Why Syzygy]

3. Hold their feet to the fire!

I'm sick of all the posturing. k/r

[dixiegrrrrl]

4. Here is a WH number to leave message, in case your Congress critter line is full.

202-456-1414

[emilyg]

5. Thanks.

[hvn_nbr_2]

6. Out-of-work Puke Congressional staffers using up their free minutes. nt

[rvablue]

7. Kicking this! n/t

[calimary]

8. TOLL FREE Capitol Hill switchboard numbers conveniently located here in my sig line below.

They work. I checked.

[bananas]

9. I did that with my sigline, too. nt

[calimary]

12. I just found that new number you have on there - [phone]

from the Coalition for Human Needs.

It's important to stay on top of these. I had maybe six or seven numbers and some of them went by the wayside. But then again, if you call your reps a lot with these, you automatically stay current on which ones still work and which ones become outdated.

REALLY GREAT to put these in your sig line 'cause they'll come up every time you post. If you post a lot, then that many more people will see them. Every now and then, somebody here posts a question wondering what those TOLL FREE numbers are. We keep 'em well circulated through here by having them so easy to find.

[bleever]

11. I suspect

an organized campaign on behalf of the GOP obstructionist phalanx to create the impression of a popular opposition to any job creation bill championed by the Obama administration.

[4lbs]

10. Laguna Hills? That's a Repuke stronghold in Orange County.

n/t

[IDemo]

14. Isn't Orange County a repuke stronghold in Orange County?

former (long ago) Orange Countian here.

[lunatica]

13. Color me jaded, but I think the MSM is lying again

They're doing their usual spin and only get one side of the story. The activism on the Democratic side has been in full swing since before 2006.

[joeunderdog]

15. Precisely. This is a plant story. Sounds like a RW email.

Poor, poor, pitiful taxpayers. All of a sudden they don't trust government? Yeah.

No problem with a $2 trillion illegal war and an administration that tanked our entire economy, but when Obama gets in to change things, they're mistrustful. Sure. I call BullShit.

[emilyg]

16. Perhaps we have all reached

a saturation point.