Our congressional representative Jaime Herrera Beutler is not representing all her constituents, especially those that are most affected by the current government shutdown.
She recently voted against two bills that would have ended the shutdown. First was House Bill 21-116. This bill would fund approximately one-quarter of the federal discretionary budget by providing covered agencies with a total of $271 billion in funding for fiscal year 2019, which runs through September.
Specifically, it would fund agencies covered by these six appropriation titles: Agriculture, Commerce, Justice, Science, Financial Service and General Government (Interior & Environment, State and Foreign Operations) and Transportation, Housing and Urban Development.
The other bill she did not support was House Joint Resolution 1. This legislation would fund the Department of Homeland Security at current levels through Feb. 8 and restore lapsed funding, allowing the agency to fully reopen. It would not have provided any additional or new funding for border security.
These measures would have provided paychecks for millions of citizens either on furlough or currently working but not being paid. It would have opened up national parks, thus continuing income to employees and the tourism businesses that depend on the national park system.
By voting no, she has again shown she doesn’t really care about the working class. Maybe she would vote differently if more nonessential government employees, i.e., Congress and their aides, and the Trump family, were furloughed.
She appears to work very hard on issues like salmon vs. seals, toll roads and other issues that can be considered minor when compared to issues of national or global implications. On these issues, she has proven to be a purely partisan Trump sycophant. The current government shutdown is totally owned by GOP and their petulant leader.
Dennis Blake
Chehalis
