I would definitely recommend reaching out to one of your congresspersons as well (I don’t think you need to contact more than one — I think they all use the same channel to communicate with State). When we did so last year, we got a response that mentioned “congressional appointments” at our agency, which suggests some locations may have a separate pool for those requests. They may also have some ability to bump your existing application for someone to look at sooner. If nothing else, their staff will probably be more responsive than the call center.
Thanks for this. I'll call my Congressional representative today. My story had another twist today. I woke up at 4:30 AM PT to call the line. Got transferred to online processing call center, waited on hold for 30 minutes. And then talked to the agent who said that there are no appointments available in the entire country between now and Friday. So I am SOL. When I pressed her on the impossibility of the situation: (1) application is past the expedited processing time window by 2 weeks, (2) when I called 2 weeks out from travel, they would not give me an appointment until I was 5 days out and (3) when I was 5 days out, I couldn't get through to any one all day long and (4) when I finally do get through, there are no appointments.
This whole system is absolutely designed to ensure maximum stress and minimum results. Like I've said before DO NOT apply online - be grateful that option is currently closed. Good luck to others. I'll post back on Friday if I magically received my passport in time or not.