WASHINGTON — WASHINGTON - At times yesterday, the telephone calls into the Capitol Hill office of Rep. Elijah E. Cummings merged into a single, constant ring.
And with a House vote possible today on the $700 billion financial rescue package approved by the Senate, the Baltimore Democrat was hearing from both sides.
After meeting last night with his fellow House Democrats, he said he was still "wrestling" with his vote.
"We're still trying to make sure that there's clarity with regard to helping people who are facing foreclosure," said Cummings, who voted against a bailout earlier this week. "That's a major issue."
Dozens of House members were feeling the squeeze yesterday as a furious lobbying effort for the bailout by President Bush and congressional leaders was met by a tidal wave of telephone calls and e-mails from the public urging lawmakers to vote it down.
"Number one, where are we going to get $700 billion?" asked Michael Butkus, a professional musician who called Cummings from Upper Marlboro. "We're broke."
The plan to help the nation's financial markets by using public funds to buy bad mortgages and other toxic debt has drawn voter reaction at a level ordinarily associated with such hot-button issues as immigration or the war in Iraq. More than 600 callers contacted Cummings this week, with sentiment running 3 to 1 against a bailout.
"I've never seen this high a volume, or this high a passion," Harrison Wadsworth IV, the staffer responsible for answering the telephone in Cummings' office in the Rayburn House Office Building, said between calls. "I've been tied up all day."
Conservative House Republicans joined with liberal Democrats on Monday to reject an earlier version of the rescue plan. Cummings is attracting attention because of his "no" vote. While callers have made their opposition clear, Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee, and others have sought his support for the version approved Wednesday by the Senate.
That bill includes more than $100 billion in tax breaks and other enticements intended to attract Republican votes to what leaders on both sides hope will be bipartisan passage. It's those additions that spurred Robert Mitzel, a retired pastor from Catonsville, to call Cummings.
"I guess I have no objection to the government trying to help out, but this new bailout bill looks to me like it's just bribery," said Mitzel. "Here Congress takes my money to bribe some Republicans so they'll vote for this thing."
