Archived Opinion

Meadows talks out of both sides of his mouth

Meadows talks out of both sides of his mouth

To the Editor:

Rep. Mark Meadows, R-Asheville, seems to be having a bout of selective amnesia instead of working for the people he represents in the 11th District.

In his newsletter dated Jan. 29, 2018 Meadows complains about the Democrats being willing to shut down the government and stop paychecks from going to the military

An excerpt from the newsletter “… Senate Democrats chose to block a continuing resolution bill to keep the government open because they wanted an immigration deal (or DACA deal) attached to it. You can agree or disagree with their tactics, but that’s exactly what they chose to do. I made my position clear before, during, and after the shutdown: I think blocking our military and federal workforce from getting paid and doing their jobs, in order to get an unrelated DACA deal, is wrong. Period.”

Mr. Meadows seems to forget — and hopes most of the people in his district also forget — that he was the leader of a government shutdown a few years ago while the Republicans tried to get a vote to rid many Americans of their health insurance coverage. Rep. Meadows sure wasn’t concerned about military paychecks during that shutdown.

He also wasn’t concerned about the paychecks of the people in his district — Republicans and Democrats — who have government jobs and those who depend on national parks being open, those who own restaurants, those who depend on tourism to make living, etc.

In the same newsletter, Meadows also complains about the Senate rule that it takes 60 votes to pass legislation:

There’s a Senate rule that prevents us from doing that. Unless you have 60 votes for a bill in the Senate, Senate rules allow a minority of Senators to use what’s called a “filibuster” to block a bill from passing. Republicans only have 51 votes, so Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Senate Democrats can basically block any bill they want to.”

Rep. Meadows was perfectly happy with this rule when the Republicans used it consistently to thwart legislation that President Obama wanted to get passed. Now the shoe is on the other foot and Meadows isn’t so happy about that turn of events.

 It appears to me that the only constituent that Meadows is interested in representing is Meadows himself.

Dennis Corvin Blackburn

Whittier

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