Weird because Congressional staffs visited by a few of my colleagues this week begged them to keep up the pressure with phone calls from constituents. - ThreadSky

drugmonkey.bsky.social • 22 hours ago

Weird because Congressional staffs visited by a few of my colleagues this week begged them to keep up the pressure with phone calls from constituents.

Reposted from Laura White

Yesterday a senior leader in federal relations for our university sincerely informed me that our institution is "working hard to understand things and not overwhelm congressional offices" with researchers concerns in this moment.

Let my Thursday frustration be your Friday motivation.

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dappledlight.bsky.social•22 hours ago

Yeah. I’ve heard a lot of keep your rabble to yourselves everyone is trying their best when I came to protesting hospitals that suspended gender affirming care. No. We need to hold everyone’s feet to the fire. They can continue to work hard on our behalf and know that we won’t back down.

laurakwhite.bsky.social•22 hours ago

FWIW this person wasn't discouraging contacts to members of congress per se, just the use of any official university resources (here, email) to do so. The "not trying to overwhelm" was a description of the university's official, carefully crafted lobbying strategy in this moment. Not encouraging.

robertadolling1.bsky.social•22 hours ago

But…but it’s their JOB to be overwhelmed.

robertadolling1.bsky.social•22 hours ago

Literally got a reply from my Congressman’s office this week that they’re looking into the Federal Register issue *because* multiple people asked about it.

docbecca.bsky.social•21 hours ago

Love to hear this! 🙌🏻

robertadolling1.bsky.social•22 hours ago

Also, we’re all overwhelmed. We could have avoided being overwhelmed if different choices had been made last fall, but they weren’t, so this is the living reality for the foreseeable future.

laurakwhite.bsky.social•21 hours ago

All true. I threw zero things at walls and joined my union after this conversation, because... what?

lamcgraw.bsky.social•20 hours ago

In the telephone town hall with our rep (Diana Degette) on Tues (with 12,000+ constituents!), she also repeatedly asked us to keep calling because it's having an impact and helps with the lawsuits.

drugmonkey.bsky.social•17 hours ago

Interesting. I always say both that I work at the University *AND* that I'm a constituent who lives in the district when I call. I guess when I email I use my gmail though, not the University one. some vague sense that I don't speak for my U.

laurakwhite.bsky.social•16 hours ago

Yeah, in this case the conversation started when a congressional staffer asked me on the phone to email them UNC / JHU's statements on no cost extensions potentially going away, which I sent over from my work email out of an abundance of caution about getting caught in the spam filters 🤷

drugmonkey.bsky.social•22 hours ago

This included Republican Congressional staffs. By the way.

waterlylly.bsky.social•22 hours ago

Doing my part and calling every day. They need to understand that we are pissed off, and they need to grow a spine and stand up for us. Congress needs to do their jobs and defend the country.

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