Letters to the Editor: Federal worker firings are just another attack on Americans who are already suffering
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- Mass firings of federal workers during the government shutdown are criticized as cruel, potentially illegal attacks on Americans already suffering.
- House Speaker Mike Johnson keeps Congress home and paid during the shutdown while federal workers face furloughs and military personnel go without paychecks.
- Senate Democrats demand healthcare subsidy extensions; Republicans’ hardball tactics raise questions about their ability to govern despite controlling all branches.
To the editor: The mass firings that Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought and the Trump administration announced during the shutdown are cruel, potentially illegal and another attack upon the people while they are already suffering (“Firings of federal workers begin as White House seeks to pressure Democrats in government shutdown,” Oct. 10). This is supposed to be our president.
GOP senators back Vought’s hardball shutdown strategy as the standoff has intensified.
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said: “Right now it’s fine. If [the administration] starts taking draconian sorts of actions, then I think it creates a more difficult scenario for us. It puts us further away from what he wants to get accomplished, too.”
Senate Democrats are demanding a deal extending expiring “Obamacare subsidies” and won’t provide the votes needed to reopen the government unless they get more than a guarantee to tackle the issue. They are fighting for the people while our president is attacking our cities.
House Speaker Mike Johnson’s decision to keep his caucus home is another example that shows the GOP’s inability to govern even though it controls all three branches.
Warning: The stakes are nothing less than the future of American democracy. If we fail to rise to this challenge, MAGA Republicans won’t just win the next election; they’ll win the power to define who counts as an American, whose stories matter and who has a right to belong in America.
Richard A. French, Glendale
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To the editor: Johnson has predicted a long shutdown while refusing to go back to work (“Government shutdown could be the longest ever, Speaker Johnson warns,” Oct. 13). How shameful is this maneuver? While some monthly employees will get their last paycheck, other federal workers are not being paid or getting their pink slips and military personnel are going without paychecks, our Congress, particularly the House, is not in session but getting paid.
The shutdown came about over the possibility of large increases to healthcare costs for many Americans. At this point, who can blame the Democrats for trying to protect Americans in both red and blue states from oppressively high healthcare costs? Who can trust the Republicans to honor a deal when their president refuses to spend monies that have already been appropriated?
It is time to end paychecks for Congress during a shutdown. It might be time to end the benefits as well, which would save money on the deficit.
Robert Bachmann, Los Angeles
