LETTER: Republicans obstruct nation’s recovery

To the Editor:

On Jan. 20, 2009, the day Barack Obama was inaugurated as our president, a group of Republicans was gathered together for a dinner and strategy meeting. Robert Draper, “Do Not Ask What Good We Do.”)

The meeting included Newt Gingrich, Frank Luntz, a Republican strategist, and 15 members of the House of Representatives and the Senate, including Paul Ryan, Eric Cantor, Jon Kyle, Tom Coburn and others. Those in attendance determined they and their party would do everything they could to obstruct anything President Obama would attempt to do.

By the time President Obama was sworn in, our country was losing 750,000 jobs a month because of the Great Recession. The job to save our country was immense. President Obama proposed The American Jobs Act and The Veterans Jobs Bill which were both rejected by Republicans. Every proposal by President Obama to help our economy and improve the jobs situation was stopped by the Republicans. Instead they brought up bills for such things as preventing women from making their own decisions about their own bodies and health care.

They refused to compromise, they filibustered legislation and then when the economy didn’t improve they blamed the President. It did not matter to them what the effect would be on the citizens of the United States during the worst economic time since the Great Depression.

Republicans in Congress have done everything they could to obstruct all efforts by our president to move our country forward and relieve the suffering by those millions who lost jobs or homes or health care.

Our economy has been slowly improving thanks to efforts and policies that President Obama has been able to do. The jobs numbers have been improving very gradually every single month since he took office. The latest report from the BLS showed that unemployment claims had dropped to 7.8 percent, their lowest level in four and a half years.

The American auto industry was saved by President Obama’s policies. If they had been allowed to fail many more would have been out of work and they are now adding jobs. Businesses affiliated with the auto industry, making parts for cars, or selling cars, have been able to stay alive because of that. Mitt Romney’s solution was to let the auto industry go bankrupt.

We must re-elect President Obama and Vice President Biden to a second term. The policies they have put in place despite the obstruction of the Republicans in Congress have been having a positive effect on our economy.

Of course we wish the improvements were happening faster and they likely would have if the Republicans hadn’t been so intent on obstruction. We must not go back to the failed policies that brought us to the Great Recession and that are promoted by the Romney/Ryan ticket.

Barb Arnst

New Richmond

Tags: letters to the editor, opinion