Philadelphia-area congressmen swamped by constituents' input on debt standoff

Congressional offices in the Philadelphia region were swamped with phone calls and e-mails Tuesday as constituents lashed out in frustration at Washington's failure to resolve the debt-ceiling crisis.

It was the same all over the country after the televised speech Monday night in which President Obama urged Americans to call their representatives and tell them to make a deal - any reasonable deal - to end the standoff before an Aug. 2 deadline that could throw the nation into financial crisis.

Phone circuits on Capitol Hill were jammed, and many members of Congress reported that their websites were slowed or even knocked out by the flood of emotion.

About 50 people of different political stripes massed outside Republican Rep. Jon Runyan's office in South Jersey.

The liberal advocacy group MoveOn.org had called for a noon gathering at the Mount Laurel site, but members of the conservative West Jersey Tea Party arrived first about 11 a.m., carrying signs that demanded tax cuts and reduced government spending.

"They're causing a lot of anxiety," said Frank Cerreto, a Delran resident and tea partyer, referring primarily to Democratic leaders in Washington. "That's what they do to try and get their way."

"The Republicans are trying to hold the country hostage for the cuts they've been wanting for years," said Carol Birns, a MoveOn supporter from Marlton. "They want to take away entitlements without raising taxes on the top 2 percent of earners."

The groups did not get a chance to meet with Runyan.

Sen. Bob Casey (D., Pa.) said he was hearing from "a lot of constituents."

"People are disgusted, and they have good reason to be disgusted," he said. "They want Washington to put their interests first and forge a compromise that will safeguard the economy and job creation."

"We need to come together with a reasonable bipartisan solution," Casey said. "We are one week away from making the historical choice to not pay our bills. It is way past time that an agreement is reached to cut spending and avoid catastrophic consequences for the economy."

"The phone's been ringing off the hook," said Rep. Chaka Fattah, a Philadelphia Democrat. "The websites have been challenged here on the Hill. . . . It's not just me. It's every member of Congress. Our system is being flooded."

Fattah said he believed Democrats and Republicans would come to a compromise on raising the nation's $14.3 trillion debt limit. The Treasury has said that, if they do not, the nation will be unable to borrow, its credit rating may be lowered, and interest rates may soar.

Despite weeks of media coverage, Fattah said, most Americans did not seemed tuned in to the debt issue until Obama and House Speaker John A. Boehner, an Ohio Republican, went on national TV Monday night.

"Until last night, I think the public was not all that engaged in this," Fattah said. "It was more of a Washington-Wall Street story. Now I think it is a story that has reached the basic, everyday citizen."

"They'd like to see us come to some accommodation," he said.

Kori Walter, an aide to Republican Rep. Jim Gerlach, said more than 100 calls came into the representative's offices in Chester, Berks, and Montgomery Counties on Tuesday. Gerlach's website had been up and down since Obama's speech.

"I know that people trying to contact us via e-mail have overloaded our servers," he said.

Democratic Rep. Robert A. Brady of Philadelphia said the volume of calls and e-mails was the highest since the concerns voters had expressed at points in 2009 over stimulus and health-care legislation.

Brady, who represents the poorest district in Pennsylvania, said elderly voters were only now tuning in to the portion of the debate that deals with possible cuts to federal entitlement programs, now or later.

"They want us to compromise, but they don't want their Social Security invaded," he said.

Brady said he, too, expected a compromise, but not until "11:59 of the eleventh hour."

Runyan's office said the first-term House member was optimistic about a new plan for compromise outlined for Republicans on Tuesday.

The offer would increase the debt ceiling by $900 billion and reduce federal spending by $1.2 trillion, with no increase in taxes, he said.

"The congressman has said all along that he would not support an increase in the debt ceiling unless it included meaningful reductions in spending," a Runyan aide said. "While the current plan is not perfect, it prevents default and the impact that could have on the American people, and maintains his commitment to get our fiscal house in order."

During the competing demonstrations at Runyan's office Tuesday, Moorestown resident Harriet Beckerman said something must be done, soon.

"I think [the demonstrations are] symptomatic of what's happening in Congress," she said. "It's a lot of screaming and yelling and no compromise."