Republicans, quit using NC workers like my daughter as pawns in this shutdown| Opinion
Shutdown
My daughter is a physician assistant at the Bureau of Prisons medical complex in Butner, N.C. She is also a member of the Texas National Guard. This government shutdown will stop her pay from both sources. She is the sole wage earner for her family, including her 8-year-old son. This shutdown leaves her family with nothing.
It’s not enough to say federal workers would get back pay when a shutdown is over. Their mortgages, utilities, tuition and other bills won’t stop. I ask Republican politicians to please stop using working N.C. citizens as pawns in your power struggle with Democrats. Find a grown up way to pursue your goals.
Katie Ross, Bahama
Missed paychecks
Not paying the military, border patrol and others who keep government offices open during a shutdown is unconscionable. Yet, the offenders — the representatives and senators who caused this problem — still get their outsized paychecks during a shutdown. How unfair and despicable. They should be the first ones to miss a paycheck.
Donna Corbett, Sanford
Medicaid
Gov. Cooper says Medicaid expansion will launch in NC on Dec. 1. Finally!
But over the past decade, how many rural hospitals did we watch close? How many hundreds of thousands of our citizens went without needed medical care? How many billions of dollars did our local economies lose? How many lost opportunities were there to provide much needed mental health care to veterans and others?
All because our Republican legislators refused to accept a gift for no other reason than it was courtesy of a president named Obama.
Daphne Lyon, Morehead City
Clouds of darkness
Regarding “When politicians play doctor” (Sept. 24):
We know some doctors are not locating here to avoid North Carolina’s unprecedented intrusion into the care they provide patients. We also have a severe shortage of public school teachers, resulting from low pay and increasing interference from misguided politicians in our legislature.
Politicians who once boasted of their commitment to small government and protecting personal liberties are now attempting to micromanage every aspect of our common life. Their efforts to control and dictate are taken from the playbook of Gov. Ron DeSantis in the Sunshine State, where the clouds of darkness have now blotted out the sun.
Thomas K. Spence Jr., Sanford
Public records
Regarding “NC agency disputes reason for new public records restrictions,” (Sept 24):
Instead of trying to hide their backstage behavior from the public by blocking access to their records, our state legislators merely need to behave according to their duty — with integrity and backbone. Then, they have nothing to hide.
Don Clement, Greenville
Pesticides
The writer heads the NC Soybean Producers Association.
North Carolina farmers rely on critical crop protection tools like pesticides to support the state’s $92.7 billion agriculture industry. If they lost access to pesticides, crop losses could be as high as 85%, resulting in higher food prices and increased food insecurity. Conservation gains would be lost, as pesticides allow for less tillage, which reduces carbon emissions by 33 million tons annually.
Fortunately, the bipartisan Agricultural Labeling Uniformity Act addresses this problem. It will protect domestic production of pesticides, maintain strong crop yields and ensure food prices don’t rise further, all while respecting localities’ ability to enact use restrictions. I urge N.C.’s congressional delegation to support this bill.
Charles Hall, Hillsborough
GOP values
Republicans in the U.S. Congress opposed President Biden’s college loan forgiveness program because they felt that it would make taxpayers support some well-off people who don’t need it. Then, Republicans in North Carolina passed a massive expansion of taxpayer supported school vouchers — with no income limit, not even for the rich who don’t need school vouchers.
So what are the Republican values here?
Ken Berger, Durham
