Representatives, here’s the bottom line. Open the government. Period. Don’t ever close the government again.
I don’t care about a physical border wall, be it concrete or steel or whatever. What I, John Q. Public, do care about is that we have an open, functioning government where our representatives are doing the job we elected them to do.
What I do care about is that we are addressing real problems such as our troops in Syria and Afghanistan, that at home we have the simple ability to call the IRS and file our friggin’ taxes, and that government employees are being paid on time for their work. It really isn’t too much to ask.
Every voter in the United States should be asking, “Who’s really doing the work of running the government?” As a registered Republican, as I see it, it’s the House Democrats. They are putting forward the bills to open the government. They are asking that we return to debating needed immigration policies, real border needs, and Dreamer status through normal governing processes.
The Republicans in the Senate are refusing to even consider bills to reopen the government. They don’t want to take the responsibility of voting against a bill that they already had approved.
What do you do with a child having a tantrum, or a bully, or the boy who always calls wolf? Why are the Republicans in the Senate enabling the outrageous behavior of this president? He has lied constantly about everything else and he’s lying about a national emergency on the southern border.
I expect the Republican-led Senate to be the adults in the room, pull on their big-boy pants and start governing. If Trump vetoes the legislation? Fine. Let the responsibility rain down on the person causing this manufactured “crisis.” If not, you are equally responsible for this shutdown.
Mary (J.B.) Brett, Salt Lake City
