A significant part of our federal government was shut for 35 days. Federal employees were furloughed and their absence endangered lives and commerce. Civil servants, forced to work, went without pay. And, borrowing a term from the military, federal contractors and businesses dependent on a federal workforce suffered financial “collateral damage.”
Even though legislation was enacted to reimburse federal employees for lost wages, they will never be made whole. And what about the damage inflicted on those contractors and dependent businesses? They will never recover fully. Where was Susan Collins during the 35 days of the shutdown? Days in which she didn’t go without her pay.
On Jan. 27, she said on “Face the Nation” that absolutely nothing was accomplished by partially shutting down the government. “Shutdowns are never good policy, ever,” she said. “They are never to be used as a means to achieve any kind of goal, no matter how important that goal may seem to be.”
She voiced these absolute truisms after the fact, of course. But, as one who could have helped avert or shorten the shutdown, she remained devoted to both our irresponsible and incompetent president and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Party before country. We see through her facade, and it isn’t pretty.
Len Freeman
Portland
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.