This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, July 30, 2011 - WASHINGTON - With the hot air inside the Capitol surpassing the sweltering temperatures outside, the pink-jacketed lawmaker picked up the phone in her front office and answered with a crisp, "This is Claire McCaskill, can I help you?"
It took a minute to convince the St. Louis caller that the voice was, indeed, the senator, who then listened to a torrent of frustration about how Congress can't get its act together and solve the debt ceiling problem. "Believe me, you can't imagine how frustrating this is," sympathized McCaskill, D-Mo., explaining the impasse on Capitol Hill.
For more than an hour on Saturday, McCaskill fielded call after call, mostly from Missourians who had learned from Twitter or Facebook that she'd be answering. The calls weren't screened, so the senator heard plenty of criticism and concerns -- mostly about possible threats to Social Security and Medicare benefits -- as well as some encouragement for backing a compromise in the debt-limit impasse.
"It's a mix," McCaskill told the Beacon, conceding that some callers stridently objected to her positions. "I think it's important that I don't get wrapped up in what's being said in Washington. This place tends to become kind of a closed loop, with people watching cable news and not listening to folks back home."
And the folks back home have plenty to say. This weekend, McCaskill was one of many senators and U.S. House members who were getting torrents of calls, emails, letters, Tweets and Facebook messages from constituents -- many of whom were fed up with the congressional stalemate over the debt ceiling.
"We get a lot of calls ... and they're mixed," said Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., who -- like nearly every other member of Congress -- spent most of Saturday at work, reading mail, listening to the debate and waiting for behind-the-scenes talks to produce results.
Blunt told reporters that President Barack Obama's appeal earlier this week for the public to contact lawmakers had resulted in a flurry of calls and messages on all sides of the debate. "Some people say, 'I heard the president,' and . . . say 'Do it his way' or 'Don't do it this way,'" the senator said.
"Missourians largely agree with me on this, which is: Solve this problem and go on to what comes next," Blunt told reporters. "We're not in a moment where one political party is going to get to have the solution that they would most like."
Blunt has gotten lots of Tweets from constituents and his Facebook page has been filled with comments, many responding to his columns or to YouTube snippets of his Senate remarks. Many of those comments are supportive, others critical.
Wrote one participant: "Stand firm, senator!" Another typed: "Senator, you're talking a big game but you'll cave in the end and do whatever the party establishment tells you to do." Yet another message: "I do not think the debt ceiling should be raised." And, on the opposite side: "Compromise means giving up something! Republicans are losing ground because of their lack of being able to compromise!!!"
Blunt's spokeswoman Amber Marchand said, "We've certainly experienced an increased volume in calls, emails, and social media inquiries reflecting a variety of thoughts and opinions." She added that the messages included "many from Missourians who support Sen. Blunt's commitment to end business as usual in Washington and want him to continue fighting for real spending reforms."
'Ppeople's House' is Hearing from People
On the House side of the Capitol -- which also was in session on Saturday to vote down a Democratic debt-limit compromise proposed by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. -- many of the tired lawmakers also reported a flood of letters, emails, phone calls, Tweets and Facebook messages.
Spokesmen for U.S. Reps. William Lacy Clay and Russ Carnahan, both D-St. Louis, said the volume of constituent mail, emails and calls has risen sharply this week on questions related to the debt ceiling and spending issues. And, while they don't have an exact breakdown, both said the overall message from St. Louisans was: Get to work and compromise on a deal to avoid default.
"Virtually all are supportive of a compromise similar to what Congressman Clay has been proposing for some time," said Clay's spokesman Steve Englehardt.
On Saturday, Carnahan said he had gotten thousands of messages and phone calls on issues related to deficit reduction and the debt limit. He cited those messages as a factor in voting against the Republican plan sponsored by House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, which the House approved late Friday in a close vote, and for Reid's rival plan.
Carnahan said he backed Reid's measure because it was a longer-term deficit reduction plan that would not make cuts in Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. "I've heard from thousands of Missourians urging me to fight for these priorities, and that's exactly what I will continue to do," Carnahan said in a statement.
But not every member of Congress reported being swamped with calls. Rep. Todd Akin, R-Wildwood, said residents of his congressional district in St. Louis County had not been burning up the wires on the debt issue. "I haven't heard a whole lot, actually, in terms of volume of phone calls," Akin told the Beacon on Wednesday.
"A lot of people are still working through what's going on," Akin said. "I think there will be some very strong opinions publicly, but right now they are sifting through a lot of the information they get in little bits and pieces from the national media, which probably hasn't given them a clear picture on exactly what's happening."
Some of those strong opinions were evident on Friday, when a progressive group showed up at Akin's office in St. Charles to protest his stand for Boehner's plan and against Reid's alternative. They delivered a "coffin cake" and a warning that the U.S. economy was being held hostage by lawmakers who refuse to compromise on a debt-limit deal.
Waiting for Action
McCaskill's day started early on Saturday, headed into the afternoon and early evening of Senate debate and quorum calls, toward an expected vote at 1 a.m. or later on Sunday "I think we'll be up all night," she said, adding that she would also be up early to appear on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday morning.
But the senator said that, in some ways, the discussions with constituents were the most important part of what promised to be a long day. "The majority of the calls are for compromise -- 'Get it done,' or "We're worried,' or "We're scared,'" McCaskill said. "A lot of people are worried about Medicare and Social Security. One woman from Sedalia was in tears, afraid of what's going to happen if we don't get this done."
Indeed, the specter of future cuts in Social Security and Medicare appeared to be driving many calls and messages this weekend, congressional aides said. Democrats contend that such cuts would result from some of the deficit-reduction and balanced budget plans; Republicans counter that such fears are overblown.
During the average week, McCaskill's office receives between 3,000 and 7,000 emails and letters, with about 95 percent of written correspondence being email. But since the debt-ceiling debate has heated up, that weekly figure has tripled, a spokesman said, and the number of phone calls has increased from about 680 during the first week in July to around 3,000 in the last week.
While many of those calls and email are what staffers call "AstroTurf" -- that is, generated by organizations or lobbying groups -- some correspondence is thoughtful. On Friday, McCaskill had arranged a conference call with five Missourians who had written thoughtful letters on the debt and deficit.
Greg Perry, a professor from O'Fallon who is a registered Republican, said he was upset at both parties for their lack of reasonable compromise on important questions such as the debt ceiling and deficit reduction. "I'm deeply concerned about the lack of listening to one another," he said. Even more worrying "than the debt problem itself is this fraying of our body politic."
Pamela Joggerst, a nurse and businesswoman from the Kansas City area, said she was frustrated by unbending lawmakers who single-mindedly pursue their agendas and refuse to compromise. "I have never seen such silliness" as what is happening on Capitol Hill. "If it were my employees doing that, they would not be here -- they would be gone."