The sorry occasion of the biggest oil spill in U.S. history marks the first time citizens will have direct access to Subcommittee Members, thanks to the new "Contact Congress" service launched recently by GripeGenie.com. To contact all 18 Members of the House Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, which starts grilling BP CEO Tony Hayward on June 17, GripeGenie charges $9.00, or 50 cents apiece.
Basking Ridge, NJ, USA, June 18, 2010 (PRESSbooth.ORG) -- The House Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations is holding hearings on the gulf oil spill and will put BP CEO Tony Hayward in the hot seat on June 17, 2010. Now is the time for concerned citizens everywhere to sound off on the oil spill to the 18 Members of the Subcommittee.
The sorry occasion of biggest oil spill in U.S. history marks the first time citizens will have direct access to Subcommittee Members, thanks to the new "Contact Congress" service launched recently by GripeGenie.com. "Most people don't know that Congress has a geographic blockade to prevent citizens from using the Internet to contact Members other than their own Senators and Representative" says Ali Rizvi, CEO of GripeGenie, Inc. "If your Representative isn’t on the Subcommittee, your chances of making a difference are slim and none."
To get around the Congressional blockade against out-of-district communications, GripeGenie created a fax service that is actually easier to use than the Congressional system that requires you to go to each Member's web site. "You can find and select any or all the Members of a Committee in the House or Senate within seconds," Rizvi says, "then write your message and it will be automatically processed into individual faxes sent to each Member."
The geographic blockade doesn't makes sense, Rizvi observes, because it prevents stakeholders, experts and spokespersons for unions, associations and other groups from getting their message across to Members of a Committee unless their Representative is on that Committee. "These people, as well as citizens everywhere, deserve to be heard," Rizvi declares."I hope Congress will allow citizens to send email to any or all Members."
The GripeGenie service makes it fast and easy for citizens to go where the action is - the Committees and Subcommittees in the House and Senate that are actually writing new legislation and reviewing Presidential nominations - so citizens can express their views to any or all the Members who have the first vote on the matter. "The guiding principle of GripeGenie is whatever will help people be heard and make a difference," Rizvi states. "That's why we also include separate fields for citizens to select the topic they are writing about, and to state their call to action - what they want the Members of Congress to do. We added these and other features after studying how Congressional offices handle incoming correspondence so that our users will have the best chance to get through all the clutter and actually get the political leaders to listen to what they have to say."
In the case of the BP oil spill hearings, Subcommittee Chairman Bart Stupak warned BP CEO Tony Hayward that “Members may have questions requiring technical knowledge of the Deepwater Horizon rig operations, well design, and safety measures and, accordingly, we ask that you be accompanied by a BP employee or official with sufficient knowledge to answer these questions under oath.”
The GripeGenie fax service isn't free, although Rizvi says "we've done our best to keep the cost down to where it's comparable to mailing a letter by offering substantial volume discounts," Rizvi explains. "We should point out that letters sent via US Mail don't work very well anymore, because of the security screening procedures put in place after the anthrax episode that occurred right after 9/11. It now takes three weeks to three months for letters to be delivered to Congress." To contact all 18 Members of the House Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, Rizvi says, GripeGenie charges $9.00, or 50 cents apiece.
To take advantage of this special offer, citizens should go to
http://www.gripegenie.com/gulf-oil-spill/.
About GripeGenie, Inc.:
GripeGenie is a startup company financed by angel investors. GripeGenie's mission is to be the ultimate advocate of people who want to be heard and make a difference. GripeGenie's Contact Congress service is totally agnostic and completely independent of and open to any political viewpoint. GripeGenie's objective with this service is simply to enable citizens to put Democracy in Action by helping them get their message on any issue to the Congressional leaders in a position to really do something about it. By the same token, GripeGenie will soon be helping consumers get their money's worth for the products and services they purchase.
Contact:
Rob Del Genio
GripeGenie, Inc.
Basking Ridge, NJ 07920
630-524-2264
rob.delgenio @ gripegenie.com
http://www.gripegenie.com/gulf-oil-spill/
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