Pitt Grad Develops Fast Way To Communicate Views To Congress

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- It's called Resistbot, a brand new way for citizens to send messages to their U.S. senators and representative from their smartphones.

"Resistbot is a chat bot we built where all anyone has to do to contact Congress is text the word Resist to the number 50409, just like you're texting a friend," co-founder Jason Putorti told KDKA political editor Jon Delano on Wednesday.

You'll then be prompted to type in your message to your representatives.

"It will print that message out on their fax machines right now in Washington. The whole thing takes about two minutes," Putorti said.

As more people are frustrated by Washington, Resistbot has attracted lots of headlines in recent weeks.

Resistbot was developed by two young Californians who clearly oppose President Trump and his agenda.

But, obviously, Resistbot is open to everyone.

So whether you support the president or oppose his policies, you can use it to contact members of Congress.

Putorti, who graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a computer science degree in 2002, is one of the co-founders.

"It works for anyone. We don't edit the letters or do anything to me. It's completely up to you. Whatever you want to say we'll go through, but the energy right now in terms of the people who want to reach out to officials is pretty squarely on the left," says Putorti.

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Putorti says concern about Congress repealing the Affordable Care Act -- with its protections for women's health, seniors worried about higher premiums, and those with pre-existing medical conditions -- has spiked usage.

"This month alone we delivered over 950,000 pages of faxes to Washington," Putorti said.

But again, whatever your viewpoint, Resistbot makes it easy to let members of Congress know what you think.