Senate budget harms children
To the Editor:
I recently received a personal assurance from Congressman Mark Meadows, R-Asheville, that the CHIP/Health Choice program upon which tens of thousands of NC families rely for their children’s health care would be funded.
The House did in fact pass this along to the U.S. Senate, where Senators Robert Burr and Thom Tillis are supporting a budget that will in fact cripple CHIP and MEDICAID as well. These two programs serve over one million children in North Carolina, as well as hundreds of thousands of seniors in nursing homes and many, many disabled people.
The health of our children should not be sacrificed to give a tax cut to the wealthiest 5 percent of our population. This is a slow-burning national disaster in the making that could put us back 50 years, before Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP, VA and yes, before Social Security, which are all threatened in this outrageous budget proposal.
I don’t understand why our local representatives — Rep Mike Clampitt, R-Bryson City, and Rep. Michelle Presnell, R-Burnsville, and Meadows and Rep. Pat McHenry, R-Gastonia, are not shouting from the rooftops to stop this travesty about to be inflicted on thousands of families in their districts. Did not Jesus say “that which you do to the least of these …?”
Stephen Wall, MD FAAP
Waynesville
