Friday, December 10, 2010

Surprise!!!!!!

Being the good Elderblogger that I am, when our fearless leader, Ronni Bennett, sounds a call to arms at TGB I mobilize. In this case it was emails to our congressmen/women and our senators which I promptly sent to all three gentlemen.

My congressman (whose campaign I worked on) John Boccieri, or probably one of his interns, sent a 'canned' email to the effect that he was leaving office in a couple weeks. Does this mean he's not voting/working to the bitter end? If not, why not?
Aren't we paying him to the bitter end?

As usual, Senator George Voinovich (R-OH) is silent. He used to be our governor and was Cleveland's mayor before that and then we sent him to the Senate and he's retiring after this session so he can do what he does best without any hassle: toe the GOP line. I have never voted for him and I have never had a response to a letter, an email or a phone call from him or his office when I have tried to communicate with him about a problem or issue. Consider that his tenure in elective office in Ohio has covered most of my adult life and I've never even had a canned email from him so it's no great surprise when I don't hear from him unless he wants to get re-elected. However, with outcry on this I would think a response would be merited. Maybe he and his staff are too busy planning his retirement party.

My other Senator, Sherrod Brown (D-OH), isn't on my top 10 Ohio politicians list but he does respond now and again when I write or call. Today I nearly went into shock when I read his response because it was well-written and specifically addressed my concerns.

Here it is:

Dear Ms. Dennison:

Thank you for getting in touch with me about the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. I appreciate your thoughts on the recommendations of the bipartisan commission.

The commission — which was created through a presidential order — was established to develop bipartisan proposals that would eliminate the deficit. The commission revealed its recommendations to the public on December 1. The report is awaiting final approval from the commission's members.

I look forward to working on a bipartisan basis to address the nation’s budget deficit. However, I am deeply concerned by proposals that would jeopardize Social Security and Medicare benefits for Americans who worked hard to earn these benefits. I joined in sponsoring a resolution, S.Res. 664, that expresses strong opposition to privatizing Social Security, raising the retirement age, or in any other way jeopardizing or reducing benefits. Social Security does not contribute to the deficit, and should not be part of the debate on how we balance the budget.

Beyond Social Security, we must not haphazardly cut government spending on programs that are crucial to the well-being of Americans. For example, I would strongly oppose freezing military pay or cutting funds used to provide food, transportation, and other necessities to seniors on fixed incomes.

The best way to reduce the deficit is by increasing jobs in our country. Government deficits always go up in a recession as programs like unemployment insurance expand and tax revenues go down. By promoting pro-growth economic strategies we can also slash our budget deficit. A prime example of this is aggressive enforcement of international trade rules. As long as we permit trading partners to manipulate their currency and perpetuate other trade abuses, our nation’s economic growth will be compromised.

As I review the commission’s recommendations, I will keep your views in mind. Thank you again for getting in touch with me.

Sincerely,

Sherrod Brown
United States Senator



All I can say is that I hope he means and does what he says and that his fellows in the Senate and the House do like wise.

Hope y'all are having a great day!!!!!!

Happy Blogging!!!!!!!!!

Kay

6 comments:

  1. Taxes. Always a lot of work getting them done.

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  2. That was a thoughtful and committed response. Sometimes the system works.

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  3. Lorna: Yes, it was, and Sen. Brown garnered an upgrade in my esteem.

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  4. Nice work and thanks for you advocacy. Troubling to me, though, is that assumption that we can turn the country around to the "good old days". I think those days are over; we no longer have a manufacturing base and we all can't own restaurants or lanudromats. An economy based on services and financial services is not sustainable, let alone prone to growth. In the end, I believe all this posturing in Washington is wishful thinking.

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  5. Wow, that was a great response! Gives me hope that there are more out there like him :)

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  6. A nice letter, but don't hold your breath, Kay!

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