The Senate offices are flooded with calls as lawmakers confirm Trump’s cabinet

Callers are flooding the Senate with voice messages, collapsing the system, as they let their lawmakers know their concerns during the first weeks of the Trump Administration, AP News reported.

A Senate memo collected by the news agency informed lawmakers’ staff that external callers were having trouble getting through and might “receive a temporary busy signal when phoning a Senate office.”

According to the outlet, the memo warned that the chamber received a higher-than-usual number of calls, which some senators said was unprecedented.

Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska posted a message to her constituents warning that the Senate received 1,600 calls a minute instead of the 40 it usually processes.

The unusually high number of calls coincided with online campaigns to promote widespread protests against the new Administration in 50 US cities.

According to the AP, a popular post encouraged citizens to make six daily calls: two for each of their lawmakers (two Senators and one House Representative).

The calls came through as Senators worked to confirm Donald Trump’s picks for cabinet officials, including controversial candidates like Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

Nonprofit group members told the AP they were trying to reach their Senators with concerns over dismantled programs under Elon Musk’s DOGE reviews.

AP News said one of the callers was Caitlin Christman, an institutional support contractor for USAID who wished to warn her Senator about the consequences of losing the agency.

She told the news agency that it took five days and four attempts to reach Republican Ron Johnson. The outlet said GOP lawmakers were more difficult to reach.

The bottleneck frustrated citizens like Caitlin Christman, who were trying to voice their concerns to their lawmakers but could not get through.

It also frustrated Senators as they tried to continue working. AP said Senate voicemail boxes hold about 1,000 messages, and staff must catalog and empty them when they are full.

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