Democrats hide when asked about ending high-income loophole to assure Social Security’s future

Thanks anyway

A few press offices at first seemed receptive to answering our questions. When Remapping Debate originally reached out to Senator Martin Heinrich’s (D-N.M.) press office, for example, we were told that the office would try to respond to an emailed list of questions by the end of the week. When we followed up with a phone call, we were told that due to the budget vote, it would be impossible to respond that day (Friday), but to check in on Monday. When we called on Monday, we were thanked for checking in, but received no promise that the questions would be answered. The next day, Remapping Debate left a voicemail for the communications director at both her office and on her cellphone, but didn’t hear back. We then followed up to inform the office of an extended deadline, but received no response. (Update April 17th: On the day after this article was published, Sen. Heinrich became a co-sponsor of Sen. Sanders’ bill.)

Remapping Debate reached out to the press office of Senator Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) through phone calls and emails a total of seven times. The office first said it had passed our request along, would get back to us, and asked for our deadline. We followed up again with a phone call and were told that the office would get back to us. The office did not get back in touch, and we followed up by emailing our list of questions. The office once more responded that it would get back to us. The following day, Remapping Debate called the office and was told that it still didn’t have anything for us and would get back in touch when it did. We followed up, offering a deadline extension, but received no response.

Initial contacts with the offices of Senators Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Robert Menendez (D- N.J.), Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), Jon Tester (D-Mont.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) ultimately did not yield an interview or any responses to questions.

Total silence

For the majority of Senators, when we left a message for the appropriate press person, that representative never replied. For example, we reached out to Senator Patty Murray’s (D-Wash.) office six times, but no one got back to us. We left the press secretary for Senator Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.) five voicemails with no response. We then tried Donnelly’s communications director through voicemail and email and did not receive a reply. We tried Senator Maria Cantwell’s (D-Wash.) press office a total of eight times, and left voicemails for her communications director and deputy communications director, but neither returned our calls or emails.

Remapping Debate also never heard back from the press offices of Senators Max Baucus (D-Mont), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), William Cowan (D-Mass.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Tim Johnson (D-S.D.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Christopher Murphy (D-Conn), Mark Pryor (D-Ark.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), and Tom Udall (D-N.M.).