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Editor, News-Register:
Although Congress recently passed legislation which was approved and signed by President Joe Biden that would avoid a partial shutdown of our federal government and maintain the government funding through Dec. 3, 2021, and that the debt ceiling of our federal government reportedly must be raised in order for the U.S. to avoid a financial crisis and recession of historical proportions, Republicans continue to play politics with matters of such grave concern, placing political aspirations over what is best for our great nation.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed the aforementioned key legislation by a 254-174 margin and the U.S. Senate by a 65-35 margin, which serves as a temporary reprieve to this grave crisis, which was reportedly opposed by a "large majority" of Republicans, overall.
The U.S. has, as yet, never defaulted on its debt in its long and glorious history, and the consequences of failing to raise the federal debt ceiling also would result in serious delays in Social Security, veterans and government employees' payments, as well as cause a myriad of other dire consequences.
Historically, both political parties have long supported such necessary action for the good of our great country, having done so three times during the Trump administration when Democrats overwhelmingly supported then-President Trump and Congressional Republicans' efforts to raise the debt ceiling, but now Republicans have refused to work with Democrats in order to avoid a national default, as they obviously view such actions as politically expedient for them.
In addition, two Senate Democrats have taken an adversarial role to their party's priorities, including the proposed elimination of the filibuster, namely Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, who have been in opposition of what Democrats are advocating to this regard, getting them a great deal of publicity in the process, which they obviously appear to strongly encourage.
Since Sen. Manchin prides himself as a man of great personal integrity, I am curious as to how he feels that it is appropriate for him to serve as chairman of the Senate Energy Committee, while reportedly "owning stock valued at between $1 million and $5 million in a coal brokerage firm that he founded in 1988, earning $491,949 in dividends from his stock in Eversystems" as per the New York Times.
Over the years, Manchin has done much, I feel, for the state of West Virginia, our nation and the Democratic Party, but his actions of late as well as the aforementioned revelations are most concerning.
Richard Hord
Martins Ferry