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Saving us both a lot of time
Dear Senator Gardner:
I have been writing to your office because I believed you to be a man of integrity, even if we disagree on many issues.
Recently, a received a letter that I considered highly disingenuous. In defense of the recently enacted tax changes, the letter said, “Over [the past 30 years], the tax code has become bloated and full of carve outs for special interests. I am happy to have worked with my colleagues to provide a simpler tax code that lowers taxes at all income levels and eases the burden on businesses...”
This suggests that the bloated carve-outs for special interests were somehow reduced or eliminated. In fact, the last minute, dead of night lobbying created new carve-outs, exemptions and exceptions. When I called your Denver office to discuss this, the person informed me I was wrong – that in fact the special interest provisions favoring business were greatly reduced. She could not provide any examples. I told her no analysis of the tax bill I have read – left or right – supports her position. She seemed fully immune to the facts.
For many months I spoke with a person in your office named Tim who was a consummate professional. When we disagreed, he led me to information to study and consider. When he did not know something, he was honest about it. I felt he heard and understood and carried out his responsibility to bring a constituent's concerns to your office.
I see no point in doing that any more. Honesty is too important a value to me, a value we do not share. Your letter and your staff both tried to convince me I was an idiot. At least I'm not dumb enough to waste my time listening to absurdities anymore.
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Free the hostages
Dear Senator Gardner:
It is cruel to hold those covered under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals hostage to the Administration's demands. I appreciate your support for the free standing DREAM measure.
It is cruel to hold up reauthorization and funding of the Children's Health Insurance Program. I urge you to support the Keeping Kids’ Insurance Dependable and Secure (KIDS) Act S. 1827.
The American people have pressing needs that cannot afford to be caught up in partisan posturing. When something is as right as these two measures are, party must step aside.
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Regular order
Dear Senator Gardner:
The Reconciliation process was designed for a limited and practical need – as a way of literally reconciling the Budget, when Congress used to passed budgets, with the final Appropriations bills, when Congress used to pass those.
No one believes in these quaint traditions anymore, but partisans cling to the Reconciliation part because of its magical qualities. It was designed to prevent last minute gamesmanship on critical spending issues, and so the rule was set that it could be passed with a simple majority.
It was never designed to ram through major policy changes. The Democrats may have violated it with the Affordable Care Act, but how does that justify it becoming standard practice?
As a member of the leadership, I urge you to take steps to restore sanity to our essential lawmaking process. Hearings, analysis and debate, not just blunt force, must be used to decide critical national issues.
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Revenues, deficits and national needs
Dear Senator Gardner: The Tax Cut and Jobs Act of 2017 is a violation of the principles upon which Republicans claimed tax reform should be based. The bill did nothing to trim back special interest loopholes. Only one of 250 tax expenditures was eliminated. It's true the plan has some simplification for individuals. But otherwise the focus on middle class tax cuts was rhetorical, not substantive. The rich, including the President, will benefit greatly -- not just proportionately -- from the plan. No substantive analysis suggests this hodge podge of last minute compromises is good for the economy, but of course we will see. The biggest challenge will be in the first year loss in revenues. How deeply are you willing to cut programs that serve Americans in the next fiscal year? Given the promise of a supercharged economy and sharp growth in federal revenues, I hope you don't use projected deficits as an excuse.
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Come up with something less cruel
Dear Senator Gardner:
The Tax Reform Act of 1986 had two things going for it that today's effort does not. It was bipartisan, and it was revenue neutral. Any comparison with the current rejiggering is laughable.
The 1986 act cut away great swaths of tax favors. The current plan fiddles around, picking winners and losers. It would squeeze graduate students and classroom teachers to benefit investment managers.
Eliminating the deduction for medical expenses is cruel. Eliminating the individual mandate would spike premiums for everyone else.
This tax plan protects existing tax expenditures, exemptions and exceptions even as it drastically cuts corporate rates.
And it would add some $1.5 trillion to the deficits and debt, further constraining private borrowing.
Please stop this monstrosity from moving forward. Go back to the drawing board on taxes and health care and present a plan less hostile to the working and middle class.
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Focus on ammunition
Dear Senator Gardner:
With each new shooting outrage, we turn on each other. Congress will never significantly limit access to firearms, but that does not mean we are powerless.
We have more guns than people. No buy-back or confiscation could appreciably reduce that number. So we quibble over what minimal level of screening we'll have for those who own and carry guns. We clash over whether more guns means more safety.
Leave guns alone and set a federal tax of $20 per bullet. Discounts would be available at shooting ranges, and grants or exemptions could be provided based on income.
If not, let's at least require ammunition sellers to alert authorities to large purchases. It violates no one's Second or Fourth Amendment rights to ask, “Excuse me, sir, what were you planning to do with those 6,000 rounds?” Let's start there.
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The tax bill will make things worse
Dear Senator Gardner:
I understand the argument behind massive permanent tax cuts to corporations and individuals. Theoretically these cuts will supercharge the American economy leading to new jobs and higher wages.
And yet, this wishful thinking ignores the basic laws of economics. Wage increases come from lower employment and higher productivity. An infusion of cash to owners and employers does nothing to affect that dynamic.
The problem is demand. Most Americans have been disadvantaged by the tax code so badly over the past 30 years, we don't have the money to boost demand for goods and services. Our economic burden is heightened by the widespread reduction in corporations providing retirement and health care security.
The goal of corporations is higher profits, not greater equity. The House and Senate tax bills will encourage the wealthy to do as they've done – squeeze workers to enhance profits and hoard their billions against day.
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We did it to ourselves
Dear Senator Gardner:
President Trump was elected in part because of his strong views on international trade. He continues to rail that America has been taken advantage because spineless government bureaucrats were such poor negotiators.
America is like the obese person who wants to sue the all-you-can-eat buffet. China didn't create gigantic, perennial trade deficits alone. We bought their cheap goods, relied on their cheap labor and took advantage of their ability to pollute water, earth and air.
A radical shift in our trade imbalances will mean explosive inflation in every sector. Such are the consequences of autarky. Each new barrier and tariff creates government-sanctioned winners and losers.
Americans are caught between Administration policies that offer the hope of wage increases (through corporate tax cuts) with the certainty of higher prices (and higher profits). Is this the new normal for Republican economic policies?
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Projecting American weakness
Dear Senator Gardner:
The President of the United States has been making a big show, projecting weakness around the world. Our military apparatus cannot save us from his narrow perspective and gullibility.
The President believes that his personal relationships with world leaders is the only thing that matters. Geopolitical positioning, trade, border, ethnic or religious conflicts, etc. are secondary to his charm and ability to make deals. That's not an effective approach to world affairs.
The President talks tough on trade – except when he's in China. There he went out of his way to compliment China for taking advantage of American “weakness.”
Worst of all, the President takes Vladimir Putin at his word that the Russians did not meddle in the 2016 election, and he dismisses our intelligence community as partisan hacks.
Many are praising the President's Asia trip as historic – even pivotal in righting American foreign policy. Do you agree?
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Take action on the Dreamers now
Dear Senator Gardner:
The Administration and Congress must stop holding “Dreamers” hostage to demands for new, draconian immigration policies and programs. Aspiring Americans who are eligible under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival programs must be given more certain status.
By definition, “Dreamers” are contributing to their community – as members of the military, students and taxpayers. I believe, despite the circumstances of how they arrived on our soil, that they are as American as you or I. It is heartless and shortsighted to consign them to exile.
After calling for measures to address their situation, and while expressing concern for their status, the Administration now has taken the position that everything from his border wall to new limits on legal immigration be accepted as part of the deal.
I urge you to retain and expand the DACA program without condition as soon as possible.
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Flexible priniciples
Dear Senator Gardner:
The Republican House and Senate tax plans are terrific examples of “flexible principles.” What happened to fiscal responsibility and the benefits of the invisible hand?
Republicans only talk about the importance of fiscal discipline when Democrats occupy the White House. After howling about the growing federal debt for a decade, Republicans are enthusiastic about raising it by another $1.5 trillion or more.
In 2014, Republicans acted as if the difference between a 35 percent and 39.6 percent top rate was the difference between free market capitalism and full-on Marxist-Leninism. Today, Republicans propose a 1 percent reduction, i.e. communism light.
I support fiscal responsibility, and I believe the federal tax system could be simpler and fairer. But the Republican tax plans only tinker with the current hodge podge of tax advantages and favors – at the expense of the principles Republicans say guide them.
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Thanks for supporting the DREAM Act
Dear Senator Gardner:
I read this morning that you are cosponsoring legislation to retain the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program together with Sen. Michael Bennet. The proposed DREAM Act would allow the open participation of those who are essentially American in every respect to pursue the American dream.
For far too long, Congress has made comprehensive immigration reform the wall that can't be overcome. Enactment of the DREAM Act would be a modest and sensible step forward that could lead to more substantive changes in the near future.
I appreciate the fact that your support from this measure comes from listening to your constituents. The program is overwhelmingly supported nationwide, and our state can well benefit from the contributions the approximately 17,000 Colorado “dreamers” are making every day.
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Make America credible again
Dear Senator Gardner: I was appalled when President Trump alleged that President Obama “wiretapped” Trump Tower. It could have been verified quickly, but now, after review, the Justice Department reports that neither they nor the FBI engaged in such activity. His supporters call this proof. The statement was so limited and the authority so broad that when you take into consideration President Trump's quotation marks, this is just confirmation that various Obama Administration officials illegally unmasked American citizens (who engaged with hostile agents under surveillance) and that's what President Trump meant. They say this is more evidence the Obama Administration weaponized the Justice Department, IRS, etc. to harass Republicans. Do you take these claims seriously? For the sake of America's dignity, credible leaders must speak out against the dangerous, demeaning, ill-informed and inappropriate things the President says. The wiretapping claim was an insulting lie that matters if you honor honor at all.
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Are you there?
Dear Senator Gardner:
On Friday, the White House announced it was going to announce on Tuesday the President's proposed change to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. Coloradans have strong opinions on this issue – for and against – so naturally there would be uptick of traffic on your switchboard.
Friday between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. Mountain, I dialed your office 47 times. I got the recorded message, a busy signal, this number not in service, the number cannot be completed as dialed, etc. But mostly the message.
This isn't the lottery. One out of forty-seven times ought to be good enough to get through.
If you listen to the voters of our state, I believe you will move quickly to reinstate DACA before the next recess. If you don't listen to them at all, you can do whatever you want.
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Preserve DACA
Dear Senator Gardner: The President has signaled he will put a six-month delay on the cancellation of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. I urge you to support efforts to reinstate this program immediately. It is the height of cruelty to try to send people “back” to a native country that is foreign to them. The vast majority of these individuals are making America great – working, going to school, and contributing to churches, communities, their families and others. These are 800,000 or so Americans we want and need. Some believe President Obama exceeded his authority in setting guidelines for prosecutorial discretion. If so, the Congress should to restore the program before the next recess.
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Coded language
Dear Senator Gardner:
I do not believe that the President is a racist. Yes, his father was active in the KKK, and he and his father had a judgment against their company for discriminatory leasing practices. That is in the past.
But does he appreciate what he is saying when he refers to an alleged assault on “southern history, culture and heritage”? This meme traces back to the 1960s anti-integration movement. “Culture” and “heritage” were euphemisms for the traditions of apartheid (separate but equal) and de jure discrimination in the courts, voting rights, employment, housing and access to public accommodations. It was the polite way of saying, “We like things the way they are.” The “states' right” they were vigorously defending was the right to discriminate.
As long as the President speaks the language of resentful southern separatists, his repeated disavowals of hate groups, bigotry and discrimination will ring as hollow, scripted platitudes.
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Is there a single standard?
Dear Senator Gardner:
The President sets himself aside as the sole font of all truth, calling a lie every claim by the media, academia or professionals in the executive branch that contradicts him. Once, this kind of behavior by a president would have been described as arrogance.
I remember when Republicans and conservatives said it was bad for a president to play too much golf, especially in a time of war. Many said the President should not expend excessive time and expenditures on vacation travel. Many said the president should focus on governing rather than launching immediately into a perpetual reelection campaign.
In your view are there consistent standards, even principles, that guide appropriate conduct and presidential character, or are imperiousness, golf, vacations, and campaigning just convenient political mallets when a Democrat is in office?
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