Congress "Getting Completely Crushed" With Over 100,000 Calls For Obama's Healthcare Reform
It's not even noon on the West Coast and already Capitol Hill staffers say they're getting nonstop calls from constituents in support of President Barack Obama's health insurance reform. At about 2:15 EST, Organizing for America (OFA) surpassed it's goal of 100,000 phone calls to Congress, each one imploring representatives to vote for reform.
The nationwide "Time to Deliver on Health Reform" event is the most massive outpouring of support from Obama supporters since Election Day 2008.
Senate Democratic aides told HuffPost that their phones have been ringing off the hook. "We're getting completely crushed with calls, jamming our phone lines from the moment we opened," said one aide.
Another said they'd gotten "pretty much non-stop health care calls from OFA." A third also said their office was getting bombed and that four out of every five calls specifically mentioned the public option.
Only one aide contacted said that the calls had not been heavy. "We've had about 130 [health care] calls to the DC office today," said a staffer, explaining that on busy advocacy days the number can climb much higher.
Several aides said the callers seemed less informed about the issue than typical advocates, indicating that Obama is reaching a wide variety of voters who do not typically engage in the political process. Almost all of them called on the senators to support the President's health care plan. Several aides noted with irony that the president doesn't have a specific plan that he has endorsed - to the great frustration, in fact, of many Democrats.
After the election, Obama for America (OFA) became Organizing for America (OFA), an issue-oriented advocacy arm of the DNC whose primary purpose is to help make campaign promises a reality by cultivating public support for Obama's agenda.
Calls officially started at 9:00 AM Eastern, and supporters reached 40,000 calls about noon. From there, the numbers climbed quickly, hitting 85,000 around 1:30 PM and 95,000 around 2:00 PM -- fifteen minutes after that, 100,000.
To generate these numbers, OFA organized over 1,000 phonebank events across all 50 states. Yesterday, OFA said its phonebanks would make hundreds of thousands of calls to voters in order to generate 100,000 calls from constituents to Congress.
This morning's email to OFA members said, "If we hit 100,000 calls made or committed to, we'll send an unmistakable signal that this time, families must come before insurance companies. We'll be tracking progress toward our goal publicly -- make sure to report your call back to us so we can count it." (See the current count.)
President Obama will speak to OFAers across the country today at 8:00 PM Eastern to kickoff the evening phone banks. Sources within OFA say they are going to raise their goal to 150,000 calls to Congress but no official word yet.
UPDATE 6:03 PM Eastern: OFA has surpassed its updated goal of 200,000 phone calls to Congress. No word yet on what their new goal will be.
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Additional reporting by Ryan Grim
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Hetep and Respect folks, I just made today's 343,133rd health reform call to Congress. After calling my Congressman and both of my Senators I got on my Iphone and Emailed all three. Now is the time, we must get Kennedy Health Care Reform, with a strong single payer option, passed.!
Healthcare should be the right of every citizen. It should NEVER have been made for profit for insurance companies. That is where it all went wrong.
So short yet so precisely correct...
Breaking News: House Dems Refuse To Cave To White House Organized Faux Grassroots Phone In Campaign - http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20091023/pl_politico/28651
Yeah but...
The right is planning the same thing in a few days. Many right-sided groups are cross posting and getting a large contingency together for a phone day. This is tailor made for the 9/12er's like the ones that marched on D.C.
"No word yet on what their new goal will be."
Universal public health care patterned on the Danish or French system. The GOP has had their chance to contribute and they refused. Let's not pretend that any of their input has been useful.
Oh I wish!
I would love it if our esteemed colleagues in Congress were enlightened enough to give us a healthcare system like the French.
You really think your gonna get something for free! What oddballs you all are! Just imagine once a month $300 taken out of your present check. Weird!!! Don't work, don't get! Tad Da! Well that doesn't work so $1.00 more on gal gas kilowatt electric and food items. Feeling good now? All three at the same time! A 100.000 made the trek to washington.
What???
Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
dont even try to figure it out, not worth it.
This thread is not about Paulson's Plunder.
That's nice. Unfortunately for the DNC congressmen and women are a function of their election in their own state and district and emails and calls from those geographical areas mean more.
They did it by regions, that's what the 1000 phone banks were doing is calling people in the district of each congressperson .
Yes - maybe you didn't comprehend what the article said, but here in Lexington KY we had 2 call banks going, making calls to people IN OUR AREA to let them know they could contact their congressmen and women to make their opinions known. The proper representatives were contacted and our voice WAS heard!
Ensuring everyone has access to health care is not a complicated technical issue, its a moral issue.
Only common sense is required to decide if it's moral or immoral.
Finding the most cost-effective way to deliver it is a more technical issue. That should be the debate.
Not whether or not we have it.
Medicare for all!
I'm very frustrated. I tried to leave a message for Harry Reid yesterday and called his office in Washington DC but his voicemail box was full. I called back and tried to leave a message with one of his assistants but that number was busy.
Anyone able to get through to Reid's office? Should I keep trying?
Good point. Now constituents who have an honest opinion can't get to their own congressman or senator.
Good job, DNC.
What???
Your being sarcastic, right?
There's a little thing called email, if you can't get through by phone. Every senator has an email account. If you don't know who your senator is, go to www.senate.gov and click "senators" at the top of the page. The entire list will pop up.
Try a local constituent office. All Senators have offices around the state for their constituents.
Thanks, Cavegal. I did know that but was trying to reach him in Washington per the push from the Obama administration to contact Reid on that one day. Any idea how quickly (or not) they relay messages from one office to the other? That much I definitely do NOT know!
OFA is admittedly the largest, but not the only organization calling members of Congress. On the same day, supporters, volunteers and staff of Easter Seals were calling and personally visiting their members of Congress as part of our Capitol Hill Day, held every two years in Washington, D.C.
You see, this isn't all jsut about drawing a line in the ideological sand and arguing online with people you'll never agree with. There are people with disabilities and special needs and their families who are forgotten and ruined by the health care debacle in this country.
On October 20th, hundreds of Easter Seals supporters made in-person visits to our legislator's offices on the Hill to tell them that people with disabilities and their families should have affordable health care that provides the services they need, when they need them. More information is on easterseals.com.
How nice of OFA to organize and jam up the phone lines on the same day, supporters, volunteers and staff of Easter Seals were calling and personally visiting their members of Congress as part of our Capitol Hill Day, held every two years in Washington, D.C.
OFA organized this weeks ago, and it was not a secret. If Easter Seals objected they could have requested a different date, but it seems unlikely that their goals would be in conflict with President Obama's. I'm equally sure they do have subtle disagreements and different priorities, but no conflicts on basic health care goals.
OFA is a DNC supported activity. No way this whole 'movement' is not just propaganda?
Just like Fox News is a GOP supported activity. Says a lot about the teabagger movement.
The difference is that we signed up for DFA and ASKED to be part of it. "WE" are not just a bunch of corporate thugs, either. WE are the people who voted for CHANGE, and by damn, we WILL have it! Hopefully there will come a day when we can prosecute war criminals and profiteers like Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld, but in the meantime we have to do what we can to help Obama's agenda, without getting sidetracked with other issues. And believe me - with every day the DFA gets stronger, adding members in a true grass-roots fashion, just like the 6 people I have helped into the fold who didn't know what the DFA was all about until I explained it. So yes - WE ARE grass roots, and we WILL affect great changes for this country!
I called my representative and two senators just to make sure they know that every opinion poll supports reform, and that voting against a strong public option, if it comes up, is a vote against the will of their constituents.
reform is not a public option. That is adding to an already broke system.
Reform is changing the system so it can work properly again. A public option does not do that. Instead of doctors selling to insurance companies, they are selling the govt. That is not reform.
Put the people first. Remove regulations, untwist the system and let it function properly.
Just like they did with the banking system in 2001, we all know how well that worked out dont we?
Heavy enforceable regulations are exactly what you need in America - for Health Coverage and for all financial institutions - lack of regulations is exactly part of the problem - it has allowed "corporate citizens" to take and take and take - run their businesses into the ground - lose all their customers' money and then have the gall to ask for (AND GET) taxpayer money to bail out these failed businesses and give themselves huge million dollar bonuses...insurance companies are allowed to pay a legislator millions of dollars in bribe money and this is acceptable??? Regulate and imprison the grifters at the top!
Ahem, wouldn't that be putting the corporations first?
Of course it would. Thanks for playing.
Removing regulations would allow insurance companies to squeeze us harder.
But it also sounds like you have a unique definition of the word "reform".
LOL. Thanks. Man, I really needed a laugh today. :)
Yes, I got an e-mail from OFA today asking me to call my elected representatives in support of the President's health-care program. Aside from the fact that my elected representatives couldn't conceivably care less what I say, I would have considered calling them IF I HAD ANY IDEA OF WHAT THE PRESIDENT'S PROGRAM IS. I know what the progressives are fighting for, and I support it. I know what the Blue Dogs are doing, and I oppose it. I know what the Republicans are doing, and I execrate it. But I don't know what President Cave's program is. I'm pretty sure he doesn't have one.
Exactly, it seems that their strategy has been not to let Obama get pinned down to anything so in the end no matter what passes they can say that he got HIS health care reform package passed. What is in it seems to be of no concern. It sounds like a really slimy DLC tactic. Sounds like Rahm.
Now this is ASTROTURFING!
What would you suggest people do (other than some of them get better informed about their position)? I'm not saying that to be snarky, necessarily. I am interested in suggestions for enacting change. I already know a few, as I worked for the campaign last year, but like hearing more.
No, this was the work of volunteers who believe in what they are doing, calling others and urging them to call their congressmen to support meaningful healthcare reform. That is grass roots working. You seem to have a little problem telling the difference.
All supported, bought and paid for, by the DNC. This is so much worse than anything the Tea Parties did.
No, astroturfing involves attempting to hide your funding, and pretend to be funded by median income earners when you're really funded by Fortune 500 corporations.
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