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If you can’t get through
Many senators’ offices are either busy all the time or not picking up the phone. The number of the National Republican Senatorial Committee is 202-675-6000. I’m told they are still answering the phone. You can also leave a message for the Republican National Committee at 202-863-8500. Of course, you don’t have to call the senators at their Washington, D.C. offices. Each senator’s website will have a contact page showing the phone numbers of in-state offices that may be easier to reach. When I called Sen. Schumer’s local office, they put me through to his Capitol Hill office.* If you call today, tell senators you will not support the reelection of any senator in 2008 who votes for cloture and thus shuts off debate on this bill. If you reach them tomorrow, tell them you will not support the reelection of any senator who votes for the bill. ________
* When I asked the legislative aide who came on the phone why the bill was being rushed through without committee hearings, he said, “Because it’s the same bill that’s been around for the last few years”! I replied, “If that’s the case, why did Republican and Democratic senators and administration representatives spend the last three months hammering out a compromise bill? This bill has all kinds of new provisions that weren’t there before, like the ‘triggers.’” He had no answer to that. When I said that a full debate was needed, he said in a somewhat smug tone, “This bill will be debated.” I had to point out to him that the very purpose of a cloture resolution is to limit debate very strictly, preclude amendments, and rush a bill to an early vote. He was not one of Washington’s finest. Email entry |