Today, you called on support at M. Luis Construction in Rockville, Maryland. Close to my own home. You spoke to construction workers, using their disbelief at the Republican party shut down to fuel your own spite, continuing to harass your adversaries where you should be channeling your energy into resolving glaringly obvious issues with them. Do you really think heckling them is going to encourage their cooperation?
"This isn't happening because of some financial crisis! It's happening because of a reckless Republican shutdown in Washington!" you proclaimed.
Who said anything about a financial crisis?
It's happening because in 2008, when you could have taken advantage of the Democratic-ruled government bequeathed to you, you instead traveled the world playing diplomat (efforts that were completely undone by the Syria fiasco, but that's a different letter for a different time).
When Republicans took majority, you watched as they stripped the Affordable Care Act down to the bare minimum. And now, you watch as they struggle to have the program defunded completely.
I agree with the Affordable Care Act's elimination of discrimination against patients with pre-existing conditions, and its efforts to provide baseline affordable (affordable to the nearly non-existent American middle class family, that is) health coverage, among other things. However, I cannot say that the efforts made by big businesses to drastically cut hours for employees who need them so as to avoid taxation laws implemented by the Act is a positive outcome. Not to mention to ludicrous amount of money actually being used to fund the bill. With Obamacare, the deficit will increase by $6.2 trillion dollars. Additionally, multiple sources have confirmed that the promise to lower health care bills by $2,500/per annum are optimistic at best.
The GOP are threatening to throw our country into default, obviously a step too far, but the positive measures they are taking to try and reopen national parks, museums like the Smithsonian, and allow Washington D.C. to use local revenue to reopen basic services (like trash collection) will be foiled by the Democrats as soon as the bill reaches the Senate. How is this productive?
"Yes we can", your slogan for the 2008 elections. Apparently, we can't even do the basics.
In an aside to both parties, I'd like to say that this is an absolute disgrace. It's unfortunate I split the bill at election time, I apologize for assuming that seasoned politicians such as yourselves could come to a mature and hasty decision regarding something so basic as a budget which has already been spent.
