Congressional websites crash amid public response to budget impasse
The American people may not all agree on the best approach to the federal budget, but they do feel strongly about what leaders in Washington are doing, or not doing, about it.
When President Barack Obama addressed the nation July 25 on the debt-ceiling issue, he asked people to tell their representatives if they want a “balanced approach to the budget,” and the response shut down the websites of at least nine House and Senate members, the Washington Post reported.
And people weren’t just going online to voice their opinions. The morning after the speech, the Capitol switchboard was inundated with calls, the Post reported.
The House circuits were at near capacity for incoming calls, with some callers getting busy signals, according to an e-mail to representative’s office from the House Chief Administrative Officer’s Technology Call Center, the Post said.