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Pittsburgh Groups Tell Congress 'Enough Already,' Push for Federal Government to Reopen

Members of advocacy groups including Organizing for Action and Keystone Progress are asking Pennsylvania’s Republican Congressional representatives to halt efforts to defund the Affordable Care Act and move to re-open the federal government.

“What we’re doing is trying to get across the whole notion that Congress really ought to try to work together a little better,” said Cindi Sciulli, with Organizing for Action Pittsburgh. “I think we all deserve something better than what’s happening. We don’t like to see our government shut down, we’re very concerned about all of the people that this is going to be affecting: veterans, older people, children, especially the most vulnerable in our society.”

Members of the groups issued “cease and desist” orders to the offices of Congressional representatives throughout Pennsylvania, including Republican Keith Rothfus’s Beaver office and Democrat Mike Doyle’s Pittsburgh office. In addition, they will be asking people on the street how they feel about the government shutdown and debt ceiling debate.

“We’re going to be trying to get a feeling of what does the average person on the street in Pittsburgh feel about the way things are going,” Sciulli said. “What do they feel about the shutdown? What do they feel about raising our debt being taken hostage and a lot of other demands attached to that? Is that what they’d like to see going forward or would they like to see an end to that sort of thing?”

The “enough already” push is happening nationwide and through Twitter with people urging lawmakers to reopen the government.