The bottom line on the federal government shutdown was that 44 Senate Democrats and five Senate Republicans chose to filibuster a bill that would fund the government for another month and extend the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for six more years.
It is obvious Senate Democrats are willing to put the desires of Dreamers before the needs of U.S. citizens and legal residents, especially those who are in the military or have CHIP-eligible children.
The lesson in all of this is the Senate’s filibuster rule needs to be permanently abolished, so a minority of senators cannot hold the nation hostage to their whims. The U.S. House has never had a filibuster rule, and the U.S. Senate should not either. Without it, there would be no shutdown at all.
Drew Kerin, Littleton
I find it appalling that in order to protect a few hundred thousand illegal immigrants, the Democrats feel it is necessary to ignore the millions of taxpaying citizens of this country who pay their salaries, spit on our soldiers who are not getting paid, turn their backs on our veterans and people on social security just so they can stand there and say, “This is President Trump’s shutdown” and pat themselves on their pompous backs.
It is time for the younger Democrats who really want to accomplish something to oust the dinosaurs in the Democratic Party and work together with the Republicans to really get something done.
Rick Wright, Littleton
Once again the Republicans, who are in charge of all parts of the government, are trying to blame the Democrats for the failures they themselves can’t admit. With Donald Trump as president, what do they expect? Pathetic.
Sally Alberts, Monument
Our leaders’ failure to keep the government open was made even worse by the partisan rhetoric stating that “the other party” is at fault. Many of us citizens see the situation differently: It is not that one party has failed, it is that the entire legislative and executive branches — both Republican and Democrat — are paralyzed by the political party structure. Our leaders no longer appear able to lead.
Perhaps our elected officials could restore our lagging faith in our nation’s future if they moved away from a stance of blame and righteous indignation and instead developed the ability to apologize for letting us down. We count on them to lead us.
Peter Hulac, Denver
We have 435 representatives in Congress, 100 U.S. senators and one president, all elected to conduct the business of the 327 million U.S. citizens. On Sunday, I listened to the news analysis of the broadcast TV networks, as well as CNN and Fox, primarily on the shutdown of our federal government. My impression of it all is we have elected 536 kindergartners to conduct the business of our nation. Can we have an interim national election next Tuesday to elect an adult group to be in charge of our nation’s business?
Paul C. Jones, Golden
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