Opinion Editorial
By Matt Durr
President Obama has frequently promised that if you like your health-care plan, you can keep it. But ask the more than 3.5 million Americans who have lost their health insurance in the last six weeks alone just how true that pledge is.
During a recent visit to Walter Reed National Medical Center, I met 24-year-old Sgt. Christopher Hemwall from Monroe as he underwent rehabilitation. In March 2011, he was shot three times in an ambush while serving in Afghanistan's Kandahar Province.
Eventually, Sgt. Hemwall's right leg had to be amputated below the knee after an experimental treatment failed.
The recently released Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) September employment report certainly wasn't worth the wait. Delayed because of the government shutdown, September's jobs report disappointed as our economy added just 148,000 jobs, fewer than the previous month's and slower than the average pace of growth within the last year.
The federal government has now been shut down nearly two weeks and each day we get closer to reaching our debt limit. You're frustrated, and so am I. As your representative I believe one of the chief responsibilities of my job is to advance ideas that make our country stronger, while recognizing there are many different opinions on the issues before us.
By Rep Walberg
As it stands today, our tax code favors big business and special interests; it's confusing for taxpayers and hurts economic growth. However, despite these unpleasant realities that impact all of us we can reverse course with comprehensive tax reform that will make the tax code simpler and fairer for everyone.
A successful education system and local control go hand-in-hand. Likewise, unnecessary interference from the federal government can hurt students' ability to get a great education. If we want to see more students graduating and finding the jobs they need, then we need to get the federal government out of the way, restore local control, empower parents and support effective teachers.
As a regular commuter across Michigan, I share your frustration with high gas and energy prices. Uncertainty about the high cost of these prices makes it harder for families to live within their budget. It also hurts Michigan's ability to regain its place as a competitive manufacturing state at a time when they are already threatened by additional federal mandates and government regulations.