Dear  Senator John Thune and Representative  Mike Johnson,

For weeks you’ve been telling us,  that if only the Democrats would vote for the Republican  Bill and end the Government Shut-Down, you would negotiate with their  concerns about the Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies afterwards. Yet, a similar promise in the spring never materialized.  My question is,  why should anyone trust you?

In the brief period that  President Trump has been back in office, the Republican led House and the Senate have abdicated their responsibility to be a check and balance on the administration. In the midst of the  DOGE rampage over the federal government, you applied no brakes.  Amid decimation of USAID you’ve allowed programs to end  that were saving lives,  resulting in suffering and deaths of children.

You approved inept,  unqualified and  vindictive  people to lead agencies, instead of wise  leaders, who act with  integrity.   You’ve accepted the destruction of the East Wing of the White House, as if it was an insignificant  redecorating project. You’ve laughed off the President’s vulgar response to the “No Kings” protest.

You’ve allowed discrimination and encouraged white supremacy. You’ve been silent in the face of ICE attacks in our cities, and abuse of human rights in those actions.

You’ve allowed the president, to act without regard for the Constitution, instead of shouldering your responsibility to  the people of this country. Meanwhile,  polices  you’ve put in place help  the wealthiest people in our nation grow even more obscenely wealthy, at the expense of the working poor.

So why Senator Thune and Rep. Johnson, should anyone trust you to negotiate in good faith over the Affordable Health Care credits? I find little that encourages me to trust you, in either your actions or inaction since January,  and President Trump’s inauguration.

“Ah, you who make iniquitous decrees, who write oppressive statutes, to turn aside the needy from justice and to rob the poor of my people of their right, that widows may be your spoil, and that you may make the orphans your prey!”Isaiah 10:1-2