Late Sunday, congressional leaders and U.S. President Barack Obama announced that an agreement had been reached over the U.S. budget and impending debt crisis. The Twittersphere has been eager to weigh in on the deliberation process as a Tuesday default deadline looms.
The president himself urged people to tweet their congressmen using the hashtag #compromise. The call was followed by White House staff tweeting out the names of Republican legislators. A White House aide said (via Twitter) that the flood of e-mails and tweets pressuring decision makers to reach an agreement helped in the process. The initiative may have helped force an agreement, but it also cost the president 36,000 followers, according to Mashable.
The White House was not the only entity using Twitter to make their case in the debt-ceiling circus. Republican Representative Steve Womack from Arkansas told the president via Twitter, "@BarackObama, it’s EASY to scare people with political rhetoric. You have no plan – only speeches. #debtceling #GOP #wherestheplan." Republican Representative Rand Paul from Kentucky said "@BarackObama Its hard to take advice frm someone w/o a plan. Compromise is to raise #debt ceiling with #BBAmdt. Where is your compromise?"
