Report on Joint Office Hours with Washington's Senators: Cantwell and Murray

Office Hours was a national thing - The resistance is evolving (from the Daily Kos)

From Marianne Tatom (posted on FaceBook):

Today (Tuesday, Jan. 31) I walked downtown from Capitol Hill for a scheduled 1pm meeting with the staffers of Senators Murray and Cantwell. I got there just before 1, and there was a long line at security.
It turned out that the people who were protesting at 11 am decided to segue into the meeting, and the auditorium had been full for about an hour already by 1. We were asked by security to let people with appointments with other agencies (such as the IRS) go ahead of us. People waiting called the senators' offices and finally got a live person at the Everett office, who phoned the Seattle office to let them know constituents were waiting to talk to them and they should wrap up the other meeting. We were allowed through security around 2 and met with staffers until about 3.

I'm not good with estimating numbers, but there were maybe 50 of us at the second meeting, which was in one of the auditoriums in the federal building. I heard the earlier meeting was overflowing, so it was nice to be in a smaller setting. The staffers did their best to make sure everyone got to ask their questions, and they started by making a few statements and asking us to show agreement by clapping (such as "everyone hates B8nnon"), in the interest of time. We were asked to sign in, so I assume staffers will pass along the numbers as well as our contact info. We could also leave a written note for the senators if we liked. The crowd was almost all female, ranging from children to the elderly. Mostly white, but a few people of color and different countries of origin.

Takeaways from the meeting with staffers of Senators Murray and Cantwell:

• They're being overwhelmed with phone calls, so email is preferred right now. If you do call, you don't need to tell them how awful any given nominee is. They already know. What they're really interested in is personal stories. Do you have a niece on the ACA who would die w/o treatment? Do you have a child who requires special education services? These are the stories the senators can use to try to change the minds of those across the aisle. They also tally calls and emails because then they can say "40,000 people contacted me about this issue. Are you sure that *no one* in your district contacted you?" Email also gives the constituents the most time to craft their story to make their point.
• If your elected official votes the way you want him/her to, it's important to contact their staff and let them know you appreciate their stance. Particularly in this political climate, they need to know we have their back if they're resisting the administration. Think about their staff who's fielding calls along the spectrum from "Patty Murray needs to stop killing babies" to "she should chain herself to the White House door until the ban is lifted" (actual examples given), and be polite when calling.
• It's all well and good for Seattle constituents to contact their senators, but the staffers would LOVE for a similarly large group in, say, Spokane.
• The DC phone lines have unlimited voicemail capability, so if you're calling after hours it's better to leave messages there than at the local office.
• -You should contact the heads of committees in Congress even if you're not their direct constituent. If they're heading up a committee, they have a national constituency. If nothing else, you'll jam their phone lines. If you don't have a direct number, call the Congressional switchboard and they'll patch you through.
• Tuesdays seem to have been designated as national days of action, but it's best to set up an appointment and make sure someone will be in the office to meet with you. The staffers are frequently out in the field, and there aren't that many of them. West Coast senators are unlikely to be "home" often, since the Congress has been scheduling late-Friday-night votes. It takes our senators longer to get home to their districts, and right now we need them in DC instead.
• For people who don't understand why the senators aren't simply taking a "block all appointments" stance, they explained that by instead saying "We need more time with these people to ask them questions," the senators increase the odds of the nominees saying something stupid and exposing their ignorance. Doesn't mean our senators are going to change their own minds, but they're trying to draw out the process. Cantwell came out with statements against De V8s and Sessi*ns while we were in the meeting (yay).
• If you're concerned about tribal issues, this would be a great time for the Republican head of the Indian Affairs committee to hear from you.
• The Northwest Immigrant Rights Project is a wonderful resource for people with concerns (green-card holders, dual-citizenship holders, etc.). Ditto the ACLU.
• "We the people" aren't sure what happens when the executive branch goes rogue. Keep the civics discussion going and remember what you learned in eighth grade about checks and balances. There are a lot of feisty liberal lawyers out there, and they are busy working on litigation. The courts are our best shot at curbing the runaway executive, until Republicans decide it's not that much fun being in power when you're not allowed to put your fingerprints on legislation. Ultimately a branch of government has as much power as it's willing to assert and lay claim to.
• Impeachment articles have to start in the House.
• Someone asked for clarification of why the senators voted "yes" on two cabinet nominees and were told the staffers don't have that info but hopefully they can get something up on the website explaining the votes.
• Dems are planning to use all possible ways of delaying or blocking confirmation votes but aren't necessarily going to publicize their strategy. Cantwell walked out of a meeting because the rules on that committee say they can't vote w/o a quorum. Murray's committee didn't have that option, so had she left, it just would've been one less "no" vote on De V8s. They challenged Orr!n H8tch voting by proxy and delayed a vote for several hours. Dems are less likely to simply "block everything" because they believe in government and know it will affect the little guy disproportionately if things grind to a halt.
• Until today, no one had brought up the Russian election probe to these staffers. Looks like this needs to be a task of the day so they know we're still concerned.
• Federal agencies are not communicating with Congress, per executive order. That means if we the public don't know something, Congress probably doesn't either.
• It's unclear where the text of these executive orders is actually posted.
• 538 is the place to go to find out which members of Congress might be on the fence about a particular nominee or bill.
• There are already several bills filed against the immigration EO. The staffers who met with us couldn't give any specifics about particular bills since they're outreach coordinators, not "policy wonks."
• Someone asked about running for office. The staffers said they're not legally allowed to comment while they're on the clock but would be happy to outside the hours of 8 to 5.
• I really appreciated the time the staffers took to meet with us. I think the meeting was scheduled by Indivisible WA, but the staffers had no idea so many were going to show up and take up so much of their time. I came away feeling like we're all in this together, even if we're not quite sure what we're doing or how things will play out.