Editorial: Keep calling and emailing Congress, but they may not respond

Published 9:00 am Tuesday, July 29, 2025

Constituents called in so much to Congress earlier this year it was overwhelming the system.

Staffers are on hand to answer calls, but there were so many calls they were going straight to voicemail.

In the Senate, the calls coming are typically 40 calls a minute. They were up to 1,600 a minute, The New York Times reported. Constituents ramped up emails and letters, too. They flooded the zone.

Call your Congressman! Write your Congressman! Take action now! Many, many did.

And what happens when people do? Sometimes nothing.

Congressman Cliff Bentz’s office called last week shortly after a letter to the editor appeared on our website from a reader. The reader wrote he had emailed Bentz’s office more than a hundred times and called and received no response. No member of Congress wants to be known as unresponsive to constituents.  They do try to respond.

There are, though, some things to know.

Alexia Spentzas, Bentz’s spokesperson, told us Bentz does want to hear from constituents. His office is trying to respond to as many people as it can. She encouraged people to call and write.

Emails and letters do get filtered. If you send in an email through his website, bentz.house.gov/contact, addresses are checked. He wants to be able to respond to everyone. People from his district are given priority.

The reader was from Bend. If you look at a map of Bentz’s district, it does include some people who may say their address is Bend. The boundary skirts the borders.

So, call your Congressman! Write your Congressman! Take action now!

Sometimes what will happen may be nothing. It doesn’t mean nothing. The volume sends a message, too.