House Web site overwhelmed as bailout bill fails
WASHINGTON - The House Web site was overwhelmed Monday as millions of computer users sought information about the financial bailout bill rejected by the House.
"We haven't seen this much demand since the 9/11 commission report" was posted on the site in 2004, said Jeff Ventura, spokesman for the House chief administrative officer. "We're being overwhelmed with Web traffic about the bill."
Ventura said the Web site is working, but many computer users are getting the equivalent of a busy signal when they try to visit the site. Once users are on the site, it works at reduced speed.
"You have to keep trying and eventually you get in," he said.
Ventura said the slowdown is expected to last until Tuesday. n the meantime, technicians planned to work through the night to fortify the system.
"Our computer people aren't going anywhere," Ventura said.
The House on Monday defeated a $700 billion emergency rescue for the nation's financial system, and the Dow Jones industrials plunged nearly 800 points, the most for a single day.
Ventura estimated that millions of computer users went to the Web site to e-mail their representatives and to learn about the bill. He was unable to provide a more precise estimate.
The computer slowdown is affecting all House-member Web sites, he said. The site has an application that enables computer users to send e-mails to their representatives.
"It's all tied into one system that is clearly being overloaded at this point," he said.
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On the Net: http://www.house.gov/
(This version CORRECTS for style throughout. Moving on general news and financial services.)