Post Communication With Congress Here

Please post regarding your experience communicating with congressional members here.

Hey this is my first post here and it is regarding my call to the Speaker's local office. I copied it so it is at both forums so everyone who reads it will know.

Well FWIW, I just spent close to 45 minutes on the phone with someone
from one of the Speaker's local office. If you want this bill to ever
come out of committee and see the light of day we all better be calling,
everyday, all day long and in numbers, as many as we can. So my suggestion is some kind of call in campaign focusing on Republican leadership, starting with the Speaker
and probably Cantor too. Every day all day period if you want this to
happen or anything to happen re: jobs, quite honestly. I hate posting this but it is going to be a fight, I can sure tell you that.

http://www.johnboehner.house.gov/Contact/



Today no one is answering the Troy/Miami Co. number, maybe they were at
lunch. There is also a contact at the bottom right for emails if you
don't have minutes.
Honestly, people I tried. I think I may have made some in roads and he
did say he would talk to the Speaker about not just this bill but also
the way he stood silent while the unemployed were demonized by the Right
last year and I asked for a public apology and a stop to the demonization of the unemployed people and this business about all these jobs Boehner campaigned on too. Yeah, I brought IT ALL up. EVERYTHING. I am fed up to the hilt and they know it.

I am calling back next week to follow up on getting the unemployed a 'seat at the table', which was this man's idea, which was probably just to appease me I am sure.

I will put myself out there to speak with them because I can't hardly stand them and it's hard for me to talk with them but I sure would appreciate some help with some phone calls. I feel the emails to the Speaker and Cantor will just be round filed after speaking with them. We have to get on the phone and our stories, our friends stories, I feel when I spoke to them would be the most effective.

That plus I mentioned my personal campaign I have been working on to get unemployed/poor people in this district aware of the issues and to the polls in 2012. And they can take that to the bank, that's going to happen.



Also be nice, they are very sensitive to upset unemployed people and their friends calling.
I'll post this elsewhere so everyone is aware and then I am taking a break to get the BP down.

Thankyou Abbie for sharing. That is our main focus here. To circle the wagons and FIGHT!

getheminNOVEMBER wrote:Thankyou Abbie for sharing. That is our main focus here. To circle the wagons and FIGHT!

Hey Getthem,

I haven't read a lot over here but I am serious as a heart attack. After speaking with them if you ever want to see this Bill or any UI Bill, there needs to be 1000's of calls going into his office all day long. I am completely serious about that.

I have to take a break from this now, the person I spoke with had me all worked up.

Abbie wrote:

getheminNOVEMBER wrote:Thankyou Abbie for sharing. That is our main focus here. To circle the wagons and FIGHT!

Hey Getthem,

I haven't read a lot over here but I am serious as a heart attack. After speaking with them if you ever want to see this Bill or any UI Bill, there needs to be 1000's of calls going into his office all day long. I am completely serious about that.

I have to take a break from this now, the person I spoke with had me all worked up.

Yea I know, that is why we are here. I am trying to get everyone on board I can.
I need a break soon too my eyeballs are about to fall out.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]I am calling back next week to follow up on getting the unemployed a
'seat at the table', which was this man's idea, which was probably just
to appease me I am sure.

If we don't get a seat at the table, we are going to crash the party!

getheminNOVEMBER wrote:

Abbie wrote:

getheminNOVEMBER wrote:Thankyou Abbie for sharing. That is our main focus here. To circle the wagons and FIGHT!

Hey Getthem,

I haven't read a lot over here but I am serious as a heart attack. After speaking with them if you ever want to see this Bill or any UI Bill, there needs to be 1000's of calls going into his office all day long. I am completely serious about that.

I have to take a break from this now, the person I spoke with had me all worked up.

Yea I know, that is why we are here. I am trying to get everyone on board I can.
I need a break soon too my eyeballs are about to fall out.

MINE TOO!

Your first post here was a good one Abbie. Glad to see you.

Well mine is mostly my ears and throat from the screaming back and forth, it was that bad, I admit it but I am just so fed up.

I just hope people understand, these people do not want to budge an inch unless they have to and it is the Republican Leadership that needs hammered after IMO.

Now I have to get my breath and relax a minute.

Glad to see you to Mo and thank you for everything.

Bernie has compiled a booklet--read on. It's 36 pages long with the stories from the unemployed in Vermont. Very powerful.

LONG Reply from Bernie Sanders on Friday:

Thank you for contacting me about extending unemployment benefits beyond 99 weeks. I appreciate the opportunity to address your concerns about this issue.

The recession that began in December of 2007 has created the most significant lack of jobs since the Great Depression. As of January, 2011, 9% of all American workers are unemployed more than three years after the recession began, and another 7% are either underemployed, or have given up looking for work because their search for a job seems futile. The United States is clearly experiencing an employment crisis that is dramatically affecting working families around the country.

I believe we should be very clear about how this crisis started. Beginning in the late 1990's, Wall Street bankers made many unwise loans, took on risk that they could not afford, and developed complex and unstable financial products designed to hide the risk of many investments from their customers. This effort was motivated by greed and a compensation system among financial institutions that rewards short term profits over long term growth, and that pays Wall Street executives millions of dollars a year. As a result, billions of dollars flowed in to the American housing market, and home prices expanded at an unsustainable rate. When home prices began to decline in 2007, these financial products began to unravel, undermining many of the largest financial institutions in the United States and, in fact, the world.

In September, 2008, this crisis created by Wall Street expanded to every sector of our economy. By the end of the year, our economy was losing 700,000 jobs per month. By July of 2009, more than 8 million Americans had lost their jobs. Since that time, American companies have returned to profitability, but American workers remain out of work. Their jobs simply have not come back. According to the most recent numbers, there are 4.7 job seekers for every opening.

Under these circumstances, with millions of unemployed workers and few job openings, unemployment benefits are essential to working families. Each state provides 26 weeks of unemployment benefits, but by early 2009, many workers had already exhausted these benefits. Over the following year and a half, several additional tiers of unemployment benefits were created with funds provided by the federal government. In the hardest hit states, the unemployed are provided with 99 weeks of benefits.

Millions of Americans like you have exhausted these benefits. The vast majority of workers have been unemployed for so long not because of anything they did, but because there are 11.5 million fewer jobs than there should be. I believe we must create an additional tier of unemployment benefits to help the millions of Americans who cannot find jobs simply because the jobs do not exist. This additional tier must apply to all states including Vermont because even though our Vermont unemployment rate of 5.6% is below the national average, tens of thousands of Vermonters still cannot find jobs. Please be assured that I will do everything possible to ensure unemployment benefits are restored.

The one thing unemployed Americans want more than anything else is a job. I believe we must come together to address the employment crisis that has gripped our nation during the last three years. The most significant cause of unemployment is the persistent lack of economic demand. The remedy to this problem is not the slash-and-burn budget cutting currently being advocated by many Washington and in state governments. Republicans who advocated for tax cuts for the wealthy and are now advocating for budget cuts that will impact millions of Americans are misguided in their approach to this very serious crisis. While we must restore fiscal responsibility, we must not do it on the backs of working families. The wealthy must pay their fairs share of the costs of sustaining and rebuilding our economy.

In my view, to stimulate economic demand we must make additional long term investments in our crumbling transportation, communications and utility infrastructures. These investments will create millions of jobs here in America and thousands of jobs at home in Vermont, as well as providing the physical infrastructure on which an economic recovery can be built. In addition, we must change the incentive structure that currently exists in our tax code, an incentive that rewards corporations that ship American jobs overseas. By closing these tax loopholes, corporations will no longer find offshoring a financial benefit, and they will bring millions of jobs back to the United States. We must also re-negotiate the free trade agreements our nation has entered into over the last twenty years. While greatly benefitting corporate executives and Wall Street bankers, these agreements have resulted in millions of lost jobs for American workers, many of them well-paid manufacturing jobs of the kind we need so much.

I would like to thank you again for writing to me and sharing your experience. As you know, hundreds of people have written very moving letters about the challenges their families are facing as a result of this severe recession and the financial difficulties it has caused. I have compiled a number of these letters in to a booklet that I am distributing to the press and to policymakers around the country. This booklet can be viewed online at http://sanders.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/recessionstories3.pdf Please rest assured that I will my continue my advocacy on behalf of your family and the millions of other unemployed Americans so that we can not only restore unemployment benefits, but create the jobs that will lift us out of this crisis.

Again, thank you for contacting me about this important issue. Feel free to contact me again in the future about this or any other subject of interest to you, or for up-to-date information on what my office is working on please visit http://www.sanders.senate.gov. While there, I invite you to sign up for my e-newsletter, the Bernie Buzz, at http://sanders.senate.gov/buzz/. Please be aware that due to security screening procedures, postal mail to my office experiences delays that will lengthen the time it takes me to get back to you. The fastest way to contact my office is by calling 1-800-339-9834.

Sincerely,
BERNARD SANDERS
United States Senator

Bernie for PRESIDENT!

I Bernie!! Thanks for posting that info Mo!!

Response to letter I wrote the President.

March 14, 2011

Dear Friend:

Thank you for writing. I have heard from many Americans who are losing their jobs and struggling to pay their bills. Every day, I meet with my economic advisors to make sure we are doing all we can to create good jobs and to help Americans support their families and pursue the American dream.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was the first step to spur job growth and ease the pain of unemployment. This landmark law has saved or created millions of jobs here at home in industries such as alternative energy, health care, and construction. By extending and increasing emergency unemployment compensation and increasing access to health insurance, the my Administration has also provided relief to millions of unemployed Americans, and has helped improve our Nation's economic outlook. Additionally, I signed legislation that will help small businesses -- the engine of growth on Main Streets across our country -- thrive, grow, and hire by providing them with tax breaks and better access to credit.

However, many Americans are still struggling to find employment and provide for their families. To assist workers looking for jobs, I signed into law the Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act, extending unemployment benefits beyond what existed in the Recovery Act. To restore desperately needed assistance to Americans who lost their jobs in the recession, I also signed into law the Unemployment Compensation Extension Act of 2010, as well as an extension of COBRA benefits.

My Administration is also helping Americans return to work by emphasizing job training in industries that cannot be outsourced. Recently laid-off workers receiving unemployment benefits have new opportunities to pursue higher education and job training programs, including easier access to Pell Grants. To encourage job creation in the United States, I am replacing tax laws that send jobs overseas with new incentives to create them here at home. Available assistance can be found online at http://go.usa.gov/aU7 or www.Opportunity.gov.

Together, we can help more Americans find and keep good jobs and enjoy a healthy standard of living. To find an employment center near you, select your state at: www.dol.gov/dol/location.htm. For information on benefits and opportunities for those seeking employment, I encourage you to visit: http://go.usa.gov/aUA. For career resources, call 1-877-872-5627 or visit: www.CareerOneStop.org. While it will take time to turn our economy around, I am confident that, working together, we will emerge from this crisis stronger than before.

Thank you, again, for writing.

Sincerely,

Barack Obama

Silent on the subject of 99ers! He should really update his responses, the COBRA subsidy ran out last year and many of the original 99ers weren't even eligible for it.

At least you got a response. Thanks for posting!

Got The Bernie Buzz via email, but there is also an online link. Just a newsletter from Bernie Sanders...

This is what he had to say about Shared Sacrifice:

Congress on Thursday passed another stopgap spending bill to keep the government running for three more weeks. Bernie voted NO. He believes that the deficit crisis is extremely serious, but that deficit reduction cannot be solely based on cutting programs desperately needed by working families. He believes that real deficit reduction requires “shared sacrifice,” and that the wealthiest people in this country must also play a role. That is why he has introduced legislation that would create an emergency deficit reduction surtax on millionaires which would bring in up to $50 billion a year. He also introduced legislation to defend Social Security and its $2.6-trillion-and-growing surplus from critics who would use the unrelated federal deficit as a phony excuse to cut benefits or raise the retirement age.

http://sanders.enews.senate.gov/mail/util.cfm?gpiv=2100070061.42968.564&gen=1

Previously, I wrote an extensive email to Congressman Boehner addressing the HR 589 issue. Although, I am not his direct constituent as I reside in another state, I sent this communique through his Ohio based website. I subsequently received a reply from his office, which is posted below. Substantively, his response at least attempts to address the unemployment insurance extension concerns and appears to be less generic in scope than many congressional responses tend to be in this manner.

From:
Congressman John Boehner <oh08ima@mail.house.gov>



Dear Ronald:

Thank you for contacting me about unemployment compensation. It is good to hear from you.

H.R. 589 was introduced by Representative Barbara Lee (D-CA) on February 9, 2011 and has been referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means. H.R. 589 would amend the Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2008 to provide for additional weeks of first-tier emergency unemployment compensation. Please rest assured I will keep your thoughts in mind should this bill reach the House floor for a vote.

Given our uncertain economic climate, I understand that workers are having difficulty finding employment.

Congress has acted to assist workers unable to find employment. When eligible workers lose their jobs, the unemployment compensation (UC) program may provide up to 26 weeks of income support through the payment of regular UC benefits.

In July 2008, a new temporary unemployment benefit, the Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) program, began. The EUC program provides up to 53 weeks of extended benefits, depending on a state's unemployment rate, in addition to the 26 weeks of regular unemployment compensation. The program is available in four tiers.

This temporary program has been amended and extended several times since enactment. Most recently, the availability of EUC benefits was extended through December 31, 2011, with benefits retroactive to November 30, 2010 when the program previously had expired. After this date, no new entrants are allowed to claim EUC benefits and existing recipients may only conclude their current tier of benefits. Those unemployed individuals who had qualified for a EUC benefit by December 31, 2011 would be "grandfathered" for their remaining weeks of eligibility for that specific tier, and would continue to receive payments for the number of weeks they were deemed eligible. No benefits may be paid under the EUC program past June 9, 2012.

UC benefits may be extended at the state level by the Extended Benefit (EB) program. On April 1, 2009, Governor Strickland signed legislation amending Ohio law to allow up to 20 weeks of EB payments for eligible Ohioans. Ohio EB may be paid after an individual's EUC benefits expire. Potentially eligible individuals receive instructions by mail about how to file for Ohio EB.

The most recent extension passed as part of the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation act of 2010 (H.R. 4853). In addition to extending unemployment insurance benefits, the bill prevents one of the largest tax increases in American history. With nearly one in ten Americans out of work, acting to ensure no American's taxes went up on January 1, 2011 was critically important. Failing to stop all the tax hikes would have destroyed more good jobs and deepened the uncertainty in our economy. This bill is a good first step in our efforts to reduce the uncertainty family-owned small businesses are facing, although much more needs to be done, including cutting spending. H.R. 4853 passed the House on December 16, 2010 by a vote of 277 – 148. I supported the bill.

I understand individuals are reaching the limit of the Tier IV benefit. EB may be available to you and I encourage you to contact the Ohio unemployment office for further details. Please be assured I will keep your thoughts in mind as Congress continues to examine ways to help grow our economy and assist job seekers.

Thank you again for making me aware of your concerns. Please be assured I will keep your concerns in mind as Congress continues to address the needs of workers and growing our economy. Please continue to keep me informed of matters of interest to you. I invite you to visit my website at http://johnboehner.house.gov to sign up for email updates.




Sincerely,
John A. Boehner

Now, will he please say the word "99er" and JOBS?

What a joke.

I wrote my rep about 589 and got this as a reply.

This acknowledge that I received your recent correspondence regarding Tax Reform.

I appreciate you bringing this issue to my attention and am happy to consider your suggestions. Be assured that I will continue to do everything I can to represent your views in the U.S. House of Representatives.

I look forward to hearing from you whenever my office might be of service in the future.

Sincerely,

Wm. Lacy Clay
Member of Congress

EDIT: Called back & politely blasted them & expressed my extreme displeasure with him not being on-board with other CBC members as a co-sponsor.