Opinion

Letters to the editor, Jan. 24

TBO.com
Published: January 24, 2013

Both honorable

Either Gerald Goen was firing the opening shot in the Democratic Party's 2014 effort to retake the House of Representatives with his Jan. 17 letter to the editor "All the People," or he does not understand how a principled legislator decides to support or oppose a particular piece of legislation.

The fiscal cliff compromise legislation that U.S. Rep. C.W. Bill Young, R-Seminole, voted for and U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Palm Harbor, voted against did nothing to address the critical national debt problem facing the nation. With President Barack Obama's fiscal 2013 budget proposing yearly deficit spending and increasing national debt over the next five years, which no one in Congress voted for, the revenue generated by this measure will be minuscule compared to the deficits and nonexistent spending cuts.

I believe Rep. Young decided that the bill was acceptable in order to avoid the immediate problems raise by the fiscal cliff. I am sure he will work hard on future solutions to cut excess spending. Rep. Bilirakis, on the other hand, asked, "If not now, when?" Is it better, he asked, to face the spending problems now rather than later?

I believe both are honorable positions given the current climate in Washington.

Robert W. Wilson

Tarpon Springs

Take Medicaid money

Gov. Rick Scott is playing politics at the expense of Florida's sick poor — there are plenty of them — by refusing federal funding for expanding the state's Medicaid program under Obamacare, starting next year. Scott has said he believes the feds won't have the money because of the size of the federal budget deficit. His figures are challenged, however, by Amy Baker, state economist and legislative budget analyst. Also, the independent Kaiser Family Foundation projects much lower annual costs for Florida than Scott does.

Republican Scott's position jibes with his party's effort to use the federal deficit as a political weapon. It's all about the 2014 election.

The proffered federal money for Medicaid expansion would provide health care for up to an estimated 1.3 million poor Floridians, many of them victims of the Great Recession. Florida can scale down Medicaid accordingly if the federal funds do not come through.

For the sake of the sick poor, take the money.

Gary Welcher

Hudson