Voters Can't get thru Jam Capitol Phone Lines
Women at a switchboard
After President Obama's call to action Monday night in a televised address to the nation, calls were still pouring into Capitol Hill Tuesday morning, overloading telephone circuits.
The volume was so high mid-morning that House administrators sent out an e-mail to all House offices advising them that the flood of external calls was resulting in outside callers "occasionally getting busy signals." The e-mail gave House offices an alternative extension to pass along to district office and staff so they could get through.
TPM got a busy signal when calling the Capitol operator, but other lines to committee and individual members' offices went through normally. Speaker John Boehner's (R-OH) personal office website appeared to be down and attempts to contact his office through his leadership website, www.speaker.gov, were unsuccessful.
With Washington consumed by the debt-ceiling impasse as the clock ticks down on an Aug. 2 deadline to avert default, Obama Monday night called on voters who support a more "balanced approach" to make their voices heard by writing or calling their member of Congress.
"If you believe we can solve this problem through compromise, send that message," he urged.
Follow this reporter on Twitter: @susancrabtree
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