I heard from a good authority, Santa, that our 8th District U. S. Rep. Jason Smith was on Santa’s naughty list and was getting a lump of coal for Christmas. So I looked at Jason Smith’s 2017 voting record:
• In January, he voted to repeal a Title X program that was a vital source of family planning and related preventative care for low income, uninsured and young people.
• In February, he voted to overturn an Obama ruling restricting gun sales to the severely mentally ill.
• In March, he voted yes for H. R. 1430, the “HONEST Act “which would endanger public health by making it extremely difficult for the EPA to use the best available science, and H. R. 1431 the “EPA Science Authority Board Reform Act of 2017,” which would undermine the ability of the Science Advisory Board to provide independent, objective and credible scientific advice to the EPA.
• May was even worse when he voted yes to the American Health Care Act which would have resulted in 24 million people losing their insurance, pushing healthcare cost out of the reach for millions with preexisting conditions and returning us to a time when people who were born with a birth defect or became sick could not purchase or afford insurance.
• In June, he voted yes to H.R. 10 that would destroy the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which has cracked down on predatory lenders and big banks that break the law and obtained $11.8 billion in relief for over 29 million Americans.
• In July he voted for HJ Resolution 111 enabled big banks, payday lenders, and other financial companies to force victims of fraud, discrimination and other unlawful conduct into a “kangaroo court” process where their claims were decided by hired arbitration firms rather than judges and juries.
• In November, Jason Smith cosponsored and voted for the House tax plan which 60 percent of Americans say will benefit the wealthy and don’t think it will cut their taxes or boost the economy.
I ask Santa, “Aren’t voters telling Jason Smith what they think when he meets with them in town hall meetings?” Santa laughed and said, “Jason Smith didn’t hold a real town hall in 2017, all he would do was slip in the town unannounced.”
“Santa, you’re right!” I said. “Jason Smith deserves that lump of coal. And maybe we should vote him out of office in 2018!”
TERRY FINE, WEST PLAINS