I'm just asking you to send a couple of emails, and make a couple of calls that's all. But it seems worth doing. I want everyone to contact two Republican Congressmen who have indicated their willingness to vote for a clean continuing resolution in the run up to the current federal government shutdown crisis. They are Peter King (R-NY 2nd) and Charlie Dent, (R-PA 15th). I want everyone to encourage these two, ahem, gentlemen to lead a mutiny against Boehner's CR antics and initiate a discharge petition to bring the Senate's clean CR to the House floor for a vote.
Although discharge petitions circulate with some frequency in the House of Representatives, they rarely meet with success, but the exceptions to the rule are pretty notable: the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Act. According to the Brookings Institution
Discharge petitions are markedly more successful when they are initiated or threatened by members of the majority party. So, regardless of whether the Democrats need 2 Republicans or 200 to reach the requisite 218 signatures, the leadership will take the threat much more seriously if it is coming from a member of their own party rather than from minority leader
That is why I suggest that as many of us as possible get busy putting a bee in the bonnets of a couple of Republican Congresscritters who have been
outspokenly critical of House intransigence over passage of a clean funding resolution for federal operations. I like including Congressman King, in particular, because of his obvious love of grandstanding and bombast. What better soapbox than a discharge petition campaign.
If taking action on this interests you, come out into the tall grass where I have put the necessary contact information for these two representatives and composed an exemplar script for the phone and exemplar email text.
Congressman King
Washington Office: (202) 225-7896
Massapequa Office: (516) 541-4225
Congressman Dent
Washington Office: (202) 225-6411
Allentown Office: (610) 770-3490
Hamburg Office: (610) 562-4352
Hershey Office: (717) 533-3979
Annville Office: (717) 867-1026
Exemplar Phone Script:
Hello. I am calling to show my support for Congressman (King/Dent)'s courageous stance in this terrible and destructive continuing resolution mess. America needs Congressman (King/Dent) to take the lead on this issue by initiating a discharge petition to bring the Senate's clean CR to a floor vote and get this destructive government shut down over with. Thank you for listening.
If you actually live in the district of the Congresscritter you are contacting, be sure to say so.
Congressman King's email page is here.
Congressman Dent's email page is here.
Exemplar Email:
Dear Congressman (King/Dent),
I (am/am not) your Constituent, but I believe all Americans should support your courageous criticism of the ridiculous political maneuvering by inept leadership in the House that has shut down the federal government. If, as I believe, you would vote for the Senate's clean CR if it came to the House floor, then I beg you to take the next politically courageous step and initiate a discharge petition to force that floor vote. The history of discharge petitions in the House teaches that success depends in large part on a member of the majority initiating it. America needs you to be that member of the majority.
Please do this, and quickly. It is very literally true that lives are in the balance.
Thank you
I know that Mssrs. King and Dent are Republican super-creeps, full to the brim with equal parts crazy and stupid. But we need something from them and sometimes one must hold one's nose firmly and wade in to do what has to be done. So please join me in encouraging these members to leave their flaming bag of dog poo on Speaker Boehner's front stoop. Who knows? One of them might do it.