Beyond Musk, Senators face another budget bill foe — callers

5 Calls app's internal data shows consistent, monthlong opposition to Trump's "disgusting abomination" budget bill.

The phone number of the U.S. Capitol switchboard is displayed during a press conference. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

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After the breakup with Elon Musk, Donald Trump’s budget bill has been rechristened a “disgusting abomination,” but U.S. Senators also face a groundswell of opposition from the general public.

According to internal data from the 5 Calls app, exclusively shared with All Rise News, people have used their platform to oppose various aspects of the budget bill that passed by a single vote inside the GOP-dominated House of Representatives on May 22, 2025.

During the last week in May, the leading topic on the app was opposition to a provision restraining judges’ ability to enforce contempt sanctions (17,600 calls). The rest of the Top 5 topics were slashing Medicare and Medicaid (13,658 calls); cutting gender-affirming care (7,697 calls); attacks on so-called “woke” universities (7,319 calls); and other “harmful provisions” in the megabill (7,142 calls).

The issues change slightly every week, but opposition to the bill has been steady.

Note: Since congressional call records aren’t usually publicly available, the app’s internal data offers a rare glimpse into this form of civic engagement. See our previous coverage here for context about how the information 5 Calls collects fits into the bigger picture.

The 5 Calls app’s staff often proposes topics for users, features them on the page, and drafts sample scripts to voice concerns to Congress members, but co-founder Nick O’Neill said that the budget bill’s controversial contempt provision hadn’t yet exploded into public attention until after their users flagged it to them.

“We got a bunch of emails saying, ‘Have you seen this part of the bill?’” O’Neill told All Rise News. “You should definitely write something up about this.”

The issue caught fire: At a congressional town hall, Republican Rep. Mike Flood of Nebraska admitted that he hadn’t read that provision in the massive bill when asked a question about it.

“I think the contempt of court provision really just resonated with people's concerns about unchecked power,” 5 Calls co-founder Rebecca Kaufman said.

Katie Dektar, the data and visualizations expert for 5 Calls, noticed that 18 out of the 20 most-called senators for the last week in May were Republicans, and one was independent.

She also created an eye-catching visualization about how the House’s passage of the budget bill spiked call volume.

Visualization by Katie Dektar

5 App’s founders anticipate the flood of calls will pick up again as the bill makes its way through the Senate, but they emphasize that public education is important for pressure to continue.

“People often don't understand how Congress works,” O’Neill said, adding later that “communicating what the processes like is half the battle sometimes.”

Before the vote, the Senate will likely strip apart H.R. 1, the version of the budget bill passed by the House. If approved there, the Senate’s revised bill will return to the House for approval. That means congressional phone lines will be ringing for a long time to come.