People Matter:
Government is About the Responsible Use of Power
A Statement by the
Reverend J. Herbert Nelson, II
The shut down of the federal
government has gone on long enough. Too many lives are impacted by this
selfish internal battle for power. The United States government has an
important role in alleviating hunger and poverty, ensuring food safety and
public health, investing in clinical trials and research, monitoring pollution
and the safety of the environment, engaging in diplomacy and relief and
development operations overseas, and employing the nation’s largest workforce.
It
is time to put the federal government back to work to ensure health, wholeness,
and fulfilling livelihoods, not only for federal workers, but for all of us.
The government shutdown is causing
real pain in the lives of people – already Head Start programs are shutting
down, women and children are losing or are about to lose WIC nutrition
benefits, VA reimbursements are being delayed, families who have been saving
for years for their vacation to a national park or historic landmarks like
Washington, DC, or the Statue of Liberty are suffering disappointment and lost
savings, and 800,000 federal workers are stuck at home with an unexpected
furlough. I am appalled to witness young
people on field trips to the nation’s capital who are unable to learn from the
history of our nation’s past, because our monuments and historic sites are
closed. The money raised to travel and expectations of witnessing our
government at work are now diminished for these future leaders. The many
and varied missions of the government that are shuttered, many of which we are
not even aware are federally funded, are important for our lives together as a
community.
It is a distortion
of our democracy and the foundations of our political process when a small
faction of one political party can take the nation hostage in order to
accomplish their policy ends. We are witnessing a selfishness of governance
that was not intended by the founders of our nation. The genius of our political system is that it is built on
the principles of compromise, partnership, and commitment to serving the common
good. Members of Congress must end this crisis by enacting a clean
spending bill – not a piecemeal approach that will leave many programs
shuttered – and unencumbered by partisan
policy priorities. Likewise, the debt ceiling should be raised as has been done
by Congress during other Presidential administrations, both Democrat and
Republican, on numerous occasions before now.
Congress has an obligation to continue making payments on the spending
they previously authorized. There is no good reason that Congress should bring
us the brink of financial ruin.
When I came to Washington in May,
2010, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also know as Obamacare, had ready received
congressional approval two months before. Why are we still debating this
landmark legislation? The ACA is already providing coverage to about three million young
adults who can now stay on their parents’ health insurance until age 26; ensuring improved
equity in health coverage by prohibiting discrimination based on pre-existing
conditions and gender; and making preventative care an affordable cornerstone
of our health system, rather than an expensive afterthought. And as of
this week, the new marketplaces where people can go to purchase affordable,
high-quality health coverage are open and millions of people are already taking
advantage of this new opportunity. Defunding or delaying Obamacare will only
deny this important coverage to millions of people who want and need it. Not
to mention that re-litigating a policy decision is completely inappropriate in
the context of a short-term spending bill.
Members of Congress must give up
this misguided foray into political brinksmanship. They must open the
government immediately so that people will receive the services and benefits on
which they rely. It is time for federal workers to go back to their jobs, so
that the services needed in this nation can continue. We need a government that
functions based on a commitment to shared responsibility and the common good.
Those who have contempt for government have no business serving as a Member of
Congress. It is contrary to the oath of office. Join
me in calling on Congress to end this shutdown and engage in more reasonable
debate in which people’s wellbeing is at the center of our concern.
