even if it doesn't affect critical systems now, make it abundantly clear that fiddling with these systems is intolerable

the chickenshit has walked back unpopular decisions before because he has a desperate need to be admired. and that is true for most of his groupies

my senator and house of reps are already flipping out. i will cheer them on.

i'm in red so you can bet your ass i'm calling

will plurkpaste a call script after work

hopefully as red states realize how much is actually affecting -them-, there'll be a lot more backpedaling.

^ mostly this. it is a no-brainer bad move

it's only a problem when it hits their own power base.

huge chunks of his constituents will also be calling and complaining

add your voice

runedwriting: oh i agree, they never thought the leopards would come, but putting the fear of mob mentality into the government is always correct

it is ALWAYS the right answer.

TO NOTE: even if your call is just along the lines of: all these EOs are making me nervous. what is [rep/sen] stance on this, and what will they do to protect constituents from any fallout due to the lapse in these federal services?

like, it doesnt matter if your argument is politically sound

most of his voters arent even coherent

most of his voters will be a lot more coherent when they realize they're not getting welfare anymore.

anger/panic is fine and even good. make them uncomfortable with how upset you are

if you can't get thru or can't leave a VM, email

My speech is damaged so I can't call, but anybody in northern Iowa call Jodi Ernst please

Angelcide: you can designate someone to call on your behalf; they can cite your voter reg # to confirm

Angelcide: also you could send them an email from their website here!Email Joni | U.S. Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa

ZiriO: Thank you, I will

I'm not sure how much sending emails does but it couldn't hurt, I think

I've got you!

runedwriting: i don't think they will get more coherent, but that isn't the point. fascists cannot be logic'd or good argumented into listening

I just sent strongly worded emails to all of mine

they need to think that ppl are mad/scared enough to drive a truck into their office

fucking Perry made me gender myself I'm insulted

okay I am someone with really bad phone anxiety and I have never in my life been able to work myself up to a point of making a political call. I just tried looking up what this voter registration number is and I can't find out how

perry can suck a nonbinary cock to the base

I disliked him when he beat Bob Casey after Casey helped my family deal with a nasty permitting department

insufficientdata: what state do you live in

now I really dislike him

can someone explain how to find this in Ohio? I didn't know that was something I needed to know until you mentioned it here

you don't really

oh ok

it just lends credence if you are calling for someone else

insufficientdata: I just send emails bc the phone anxiety. usually they reply if you give them time

there's a button you can click on their websites that brings you to a form you can fill out

woodrift: the only reply I ever got was an automated email

wild

I've gotten admins replying on their behalf

phone calls are better but if you cannot then emails def beat silence

hell why not bombard their social media

that's a great idea!

make their local socmed trend be their name and ANSWER YOUR PHONE or smth

I've received replies from my congress people via email, but it was mostly right wing double speak... so... if they reply I never expect anything worth reading

Flooding their social media is actually a good idea

just found Fetterman on BSky. there's hope y'all

For those in Virginia, the senators have a google form where you can list which grants you or your organization have been personally impacted byUpdates on the Trump Federal Grant Freeze Announceme...

is there a script yet, by any chance?

snickersnack: omwh. will post ltr

I think it also bears mentioning that if your representatives are already standing up to shit, tell them you support them! thank them for sticking up for you!

yeah I'm in a state whose reps are standing up and I'm going to call with support because they need to know they're doing the right thing and I need them to keep fighting!!!

social media is loud and the good ones are getting shat on, so let them know they're doing good when they are!

absolutely everything i've seen says it has to be a phone call, ftr. they will never see an email, but the number and subject of calls is reported to congress members daily by staff.

calling by phone is the ONLY method that matters for this sort of thing, maybe emails will eventually be tallied by data but that's a monthly report if they bother at all.

usual suggestion for phone anxiety is to call after hours and leave it as a voice mail, as those will be checked in the morning and added to the day's tally.

and if you can't phone at all don't waste your time on email, comment on their social media.

this is the general script i've been sharing, i'm sure there are others and as always the more specific you can be about what affects you/your area the better.

okay i'm home, one minute and i'll edit with a plurk paste of what i said for both my calls

added an abbreviated version of what i said when i called to top level plurk

to note, i live in the florida panhandle. so im not giving the MFs who represent my area any benefit of the doubt

i also stated twice that i'm expecting to hear back because i plan to call their offices continually until i do

i also don't agree about phone calls being the ONLY method that matters, but i will agree that it's definitely the most effective. leaving a VM after hours is a very good option

ALSO to note; it's not like you will be talking to ted cruz himself, you'll talk to some underpaid staffer or intern. you don't need to be rude but being firm and communicating whether or not you want to hear back on an issue is good. they also are not allowed to be assholes to you because that would be a PR nightmare

if you do talk to someone who is horrible to you, hang up, chill out, and idk maybe tell your local news station that you just got cussed out by your rep's office and have they heard of this happening idk what to do there

haven't looked into it

anyway be safe and make your problems someone else's problems

keep calling even in blue states

don't assume that just because they're dems they're 100% against everything that's happening

or emailing - I went the online contact route

it’s really sad that i had to take a second to go wait, which latest bullshit

there is so much h of it

Thanks for the script

A phone trick from a corporate drone who hates calling people: write your email that you want to send. Make it short and succinct. Then call with your email in front of you, and read your email as your script when someone picks up.

If you get sent to voicemail (v likely) then read your email into the vm. Then add a reference to the time of your call to your email, and hit send

I got told the voicemail was full when i called one of my republican senators. what do you want to bet they're deliberately leaving it that way so they don't have to hear complaints.

lyrangalia: thank you for this advice, we're gonna call our red state people later this week

and if their VMs are full like they've been before, we will use this

gonewithouta: i also appreciate this advice, i've never had a staffer be rude to me but if so!

the other senator I got through to but there are rocks with nicer souls than his.... can't get through to my rep. the number doesn't dial out properly. sneaky bastard

the link up top mostly only shows their DC offices, but reps probably have local office numbers too. if you've got the energy it would be worthwhile to see if there are other places to leave a VM if their inbox is full

places will also yes keep their inboxes either limited or will not check them that often, which is why i don't think phone is the ONLY thing that works if they're an office that just fucks off. i really do mean make your problem THEIR problem

gotta put on your karen hat for the sake of good

it's also hard to call and advocate for your own self, but when you think about calling and making a nuisance of yourself for someone else it becomes much easier (at least it does for me)

if voicemail is full, time to email?

when i'm calling and scared about talking to a real human (because i also have phone anxiety) i think "i'm calling for the sake of [specific person] who is scared" and it becomes easier

script helps MUCHLY, and calling for someone else's sake helps MUCHLY. signed, someone who used to get screamed at on the phone at previous jobs to the point where i would get sick to my stomach hearing it ring and has slowly had to train self out of that kneejerk response

I did my best

I didn't call Rick Scott a sycophant, boot-licking chucklefuck so

I'll be calling tomorrow, today got away from me

yeah i'm setting a reminder to call tomorrow and send emails. thank you for this. what a fuckin joke

starpaths: rick scott is mine also and i somehow managed to hold back the "oh and walk off a cliff next chance you get" so we are obviously god's strongest soldiers

gonewithouta: damn right

I checked his twitter and he hasn't even mentioned this. WONDER WHY.

[looks at MTG]
[sighs]
I mean. I'll call.

some reps also accept faxes and you can fax them for free here: Fax Congress

I need to calm down, sleep and call tomorrow.

Fax Senators

And try not to tell the reubs in power in my area in detail how I want awful things to happen to them.

these calls and emails are so important, even if you're in a blue state.
iowa just flipped a seat to a dem+3 today (previously it was trump +21)

the more their piss thin majority shrinks the better!

Glimmers of light

Iowa flipping is GREAT. ESPECIALLY senate seats. We only need 2 more to have a majority in the senate.

Also: your individual call doesn't have to be good or persuasive, we are going for volume

Will be calling tomorrow, ty for the script: scripts always help a lot.

Also plan on asking, "is this not an impeachable offense? Is this not the second time he's tried to blatantly violate the constitution he swore to uphold within the first eight days of his presidency?"

yes good

Considering this is supposed to be a Congress-only decision, yeah I’d say it is

there's going to be the insane right wing folks (like MTG) who are fully in the cult as a believer, but there is also a not inconsiderable number of republicans who are just cowards who got used to their bribes and don't want to lose their cushy jobs

mention volunteering and donating to their dem opponent for the next election and encouraging all your neighbors and friends to do the same

(do you actually need to do this? i mean it's good if you can. but also make them scared you will)

ChromaDestino: this followed by trying up amend the 14th amendment via executive order yeah

THIS IS NOT HOW IT WORKS /screaming in schoolhouse rock

sad florida panhandle high 5

i didn't realize we could call scott on this, i had thought since gaetz fucked off and it was empty we'd have to wait to make these calls so thank you for posting and sharing that!!

Congress dot gov wanted me to create an account.Legislators in the United States Congress - GovTrack...< lets me put in my address to get a list without an account.

Man, I just want to call Lauren Boebert daily and tell her how much of a waste of space she is.

dropitlikeitshod You should tell Rep. Handjob that, hourly if possible.

5 Calls

^ you put in your zip code and it gives you the phone numbers of the appropriate representatives to call, a script, and a little button where you can report if you were able to contact them/got sent to voicemail

Ty

you can also send faxes to your representatives here:
Fax Governors
Fax Congress
Fax Senators

The various offices still have a fax machine?

lots of business offices and federal offices still use fax yeah

smithsyndicate: why is it called 5 calls when it only gives 3 reps? are there two more hidden ones?

office-like businesses are the reason fax is still relevant, idk why.

Legal reasons

As long as the fax machine is only accessible to the intended receiver then faxes are much more secure than emails which is why Healthcare facilities still rely on fax machines for a majority of communication

It's more secure to fax documents than to email them

^^^

yes

Email servers are hackable, too; faxes aren't stored in a cloud

Ayasugi_san: it's just because it urges you to make 5 phone calls, there won't always be 5 people to call on one issue

Marisa Kabas (@marisakabas.bsky.social)is this a win for public pressure, or a sign of confusion within the admin? either way, great to see them backing down at all

oh they probably got a TON of push-back from red states because i bet at least half of the trump voters realized the leopards were eating their face on this specific issue

will they register it when it's things like trans and gay rights? tbd

'shit, shit, shit... the people that LIKE us would want to kill us in the streets for this, nvm we don't mean that.'

Well I got a gallows humor chuckle out of that

it's like they learned nothing from the backlash to Project 2025. or thought that if they didn't use the same while following it everyone would be fine with it

Oh yeah in Florida even whispering that Medicare might be affected will get you in a lot of political trouble.

I'm sure they'll figure out more fuckery but at least this feels kind of nice.

They’re currently arguing that the memo was rescinded but the freeze is still being implemented, I really think they like shooting themselves in the foot with this

If we get to midterms and I don’t see a blue wave I’m gonna be pissed

it does makes sense, the memo was specifically telling a department to ignore a judge's orders. someone probably realized that now was not the best time to pick a fight with the judicial branch by undermining their authority

not when they're trying to focus on undermining the legislature

I know NY has a court case with a judge going after this like RIGHT NOW so there’s more than one judge fighting to stop it

Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) on X

press sec stating that only the OMB memo was rescinded. they fully intend to continue with the freeze

keep calling

rookie numbers let's get that up higher

GET CALLED IDIOTS NO SLEEP FOR YOU

we have been calling my senators, but unfortunately my rep is a MEMBER of the doge caucus

centiskorch: call your rep every day then. bury them in disapproval

yeah annoy the fuck out of them

Polite disapproval!! You have the right to annoy them as much as you want as long as you are polite. doesn't have to be super mega polite but yeah I definitely linked something earlier that actively suggested being verbally abusive bc I didn't read closely enough and no! Verbal abuse will at best get your call dismissed

oh yes. polite well-informed disapproval. explain why their choices are bad for their constituents. if you have the spoons update your script every time a new consequence pops up

Yes

But you honestly don't have to be well-informed. Just "I want senator/rep/AG to vote no on issue", you don't have to defend your disapproval

You don't have to make a case

Just "I want them to do x".