Washington should work more for the people and less for special interests

In “Trump and GOP put high-interest lenders ahead of military” (Aug. 24), Ned Barnett argues that Congress and the administration are proposing actions that would be unfair to military families. I believe he’s right, and I have been the lone Republican in the House of Representatives opposing those measures.

In my service on the House Armed Services Committee, time and again I have heard from military leaders about how important service members’ financial security is to the readiness of our armed forces.

As the Department of Defense has stated: “Losing qualified service members due to personal issues, such as financial instability, causes loss of mission capability and drives significant replacement costs.”

In my opinion, there’s no good reason to make it easier for finance firms to get folks into loans with exorbitant interest rates they can’t afford. We shouldn’t be helping Wall Street take the last nickel out of the pocket of a struggling North Carolina service member, and hurting military readiness and taxpayers in the process.

Too often we see Washington work to benefit special interests, not the people. Did you know that on average, almost $6 million of special interest money is spent on influencing a member of Congress each year? This must change.

Unfortunately, it won’t until we remove the dangerous growth of special interest money in politics. That is why I am a cosponsor of Congressman John Sarbanes’ bill, the Government by the People Act, which makes drastic changes to campaign finance law. I encourage my colleagues to join this legislation.

‘Listen’

Today an event in Benson was canceled without any notification. A member of Sen. Thom Tillis’ staff was to hold a town hall in Benson from 10 a.m. to noon. This was an open forum and she was going to represent the senator and answer questions for him.

Many of us drove for over an hour to get to this event and the staffer was a no-show. The notice for the event remains on the door of the Benson office and staff was not helpful in terms of explaining why it was canceled and when it would be rescheduled. This event was advertised online as well as in a local newspaper.

Our senator is supposed to represent all of North Carolina. Some questions may be tough to answer but it’s a senator’s job to listen to all of us. Our taxes pay Tillis’ salary, and if he can’t fulfill his obligations to all constituents, then it’s time for him to find a new job.

Remembering McCain

Last summer, I saw Sen. John McCain at Newark Airport. Unknown to Americans, he was battling brain cancer. I watched as he stood being greeted by travelers.

A year later, his family would announce that the senator would discontinue medical treatments. Many undoubtedly paused, regardless of political tribalism. Such a sad revelation made us think of the man, not his party. It was the man who was tortured by the North Vietnamese military and held a prisoner for six years. It was the man that reminded Congress it must exercise its role as a check on executive power, even if it meant going against party leadership.

McCain was a man that believed the faults of a government existing in the spirit of compassion more relevant than the oversights of a government frozen in the ice of indifference. McCain reminded a nation that enormity does not prevent it from being too big to fall, and democracy demands a more humane scale.

Few leaders willingly risk the censorship of colleagues by affirming that there’s room in the discussion to disagree and for all of us to remain patriots. John McCain did.

This story was originally published August 28, 2018 at 12:07 PM.