Obama's call: House phone lines jammed

House telephone lines are still jammed this morning after President Barack Obama urged the public in his speech last night to contact their members of Congress on the debt-ceiling gridlock.

IT staffers are telling offices that "unusually high traffic volume in reaction to the President's address yesterday evening" is pushing many websites past capacity. Last night, several House and Senate websites crashed after Obama's prime-time speech had concluded, and sites aren't loading this morning, including that of Rep. Aaron Schock (R-Ill.) and Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-N.C.).

An e-mail from the House Call Center shortly before 10 a.m. says House phone lines are near capacity, leading callers to sometimes get a busy signal. The Committee on House Administration said the calls to Congress today have hit the 35,000 mark, about 15,000 above a typical day. During the healthcare debate, calls to Congress were around 50,000 per day.

Last night, several House and Senate websites crashed after Obama's prime-time speech had concluded. Many lawmakers urged constituents to contact them via Twitter because of downed websites.

Here's the email that went out to House offices Tuesday morning:

Due to the high volume of external calls, House telephone circuits serving 202-225-XXXX phone numbers are near capacity resulting in outside callers occasionally getting busy signals. Outbound calls are unaffected. During this time offices may wish to provide district office staff and key contacts with an alternate 202-226-XXXX extension, if available, until call volumes subside. If you have any questions, please contact the CAO Technology Call Center at 5-6002 or 1-800-HIR-USER.

