In spirit of providing possibly helpful, yet unsolicited advice—a thread for policymakers on things not to say to people in the backlog if you want to calm tensions, given that backlogged population will apparently engage policymakers quite frequently for foreseeable future......

1) “you dont know what you are talking about!” Note, you are likely speaking to a doctor who saves people’s lives every day or someone who has a master’s in a STEM field. Saying they dont “know what they are talking about” is pretty darn inflammatory...

2) “the fault is mike lee’s” The people in the backlog see Mike Lee getting killed by his base. Again, the backlogged people are not stupid even if people call them that during an interaction. The know he is doing everything possible to make a deal. Blaming him wont work...

3)I just want to be fair here!” To the backlogged listener, this translates to “I am willing to block your equal treatment under the law forever unless I can guarantee the current unearned privilege that those from other countries receive.” In any other context, cancel culture!!!

4) “the bill needs to be bipartsian” it is bipartisan!! it was previously sponsored by every leader in the Senate and passed basically unanimously in House!! It is a Lofgren bill in its origin....

5) “the bill is only supported by tech and will crowd out people in ‘x’ field.”
Unless the field is in DOL Job zone 1 or zone 2, I can guarantee you the largest number of people doing that field are in backlog. This is especially true when people say “we need healthcare!” .....

So, one might ask, “what can I say?” I would stick to “I know, I understand, I am working to come up with something.”’ And then actually work to be coming up with something ASAP. This is an easy to problem to solve and a lot of people can be helped. Let’s get to work!!!