To the Editor:
I want to make sure all my friends on the Island know why the government shutdown occurred.
The House of Representatives sent four government funding bills to the Senate. In supporting the will of the people, these bills tried to tie defunding or delaying the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Opinion polls have shown that more than 60 percent of the country doesn’t want this law. Even unions don’t want this law.
The ACA is so expensive, all members of Congress and their staffs are exempt from paying for health insurance under this law. But they still get their health insurance. We, the taxpayers, don’t get the exemption they have given themselves, and we taxpayers are paying for their health insurance.
So many companies are reducing the number of full-time employees, because the cost of the ACA is so high. This is one reason why unemployment remains stubbornly high.
Yet Sen. Harry Reid refuses to negotiate with the House regarding the funding bill. He wouldn’t even allow the bill to be debated. Until the Democrat controlled Senate agrees to negotiate, our federal government will remain at a standstill.
Jim Osborn
Vineyard Haven
