Senators should stand tall for USA
To the Editor:
Neither the President’s omnibus budget bill nor the House’s abysmal substitute warrant the approval of sens. Thom Tillis or Ted Budd. The senators should stand up for our country and North Carolina in a time of great need.
Both bills are seriously flawed. (1) They significantly increase our deficit. (2) They unfairly enrich the astronomically wealthy at the expense of our dwindling middle class and our many impoverished citizens. (3) They dramatically decrease health care coverage through massive cuts in Medicaid and well-hidden cuts to Medicare. (4) They would defund or reduce funding of numerous agencies that Congress, in bi-partisan votes, has previously created and funded to protect all our citizens. (5) They would strip funding for critically important climate projects necessary to save humanity.
Our country is drowning in debt. Either spending bill increases U.S. debt by trillions of dollars. A responsible government should be reducing its debt obligations. Our country is overextended and has not had a balanced budget in decades. If Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich can get that done, then a Congress and the executive controlled by the same party should get it done. Reduce our debt.
We need more equitable taxation. The wealth gap between the superrich and average workers who keep this country running day to day has increased phenomenally. That is due to a tax code that disproportionately taxes the poor and the middle class. I know, billionaires, oligarchs and their business organizations control campaign purse strings, but you represent all your citizens, not the richest 1% who can create and fund superPACs while the contributions for average citizens are capped. Make the rich pay their fair share and reduce our national debt.
The working poor should not fund deficit reduction. Medicaid is already inadequate to provide health care to the working poor. It should not be cut in funding. Similarly, the funding bills before you also contain well-hidden cuts (recission) to Medicare, which is relied upon by our aging citizens who have paid into Medicare over their working life, at a much higher rate than the rate charged to the wealthy. Allowing the wealthy to stop paying taxes for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid once their income reaches a certain level has caused these essential programs to become underfunded, and the tax break solely for the rich is horribly regressive and unfair.
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Federal agencies created by bipartisan congresses to protect consumers should not be defunded. The EPA, the NLRB, the FTC, the FDA, HHS, the FCPB and a host of other agencies protect citizens from abuse and environmental degradation. They serve the public interest. Their funds are essential. The Administration has even acknowledged it has gone too far in firing necessary federal employees.
We need to keep the Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA) funding of alternative energy sources and honor our commitment to address climate change. Climate change is real and a growing threat to all humanity. The IRA funded important, although incomplete, measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The bills before you would reverse those essential measures. Moreover, the IRA provides a huge net benefit to North Carolina businesses and workers whose interests you were elected to protect.
Our two senators should oppose both of these bills. Find a better path to fund our government and reduce our national debt. Stand tall for North Carolina and the United States as Sen. Tillis has for Ukraine.
Charles A. Guyton
Waynesville
