OP/ED: Talking Loud, and Saying Nothing

By Elenore Freedman

If I had had a 9 percent approval rating at my job, I would have been fired. Wouldn't you?

US Rep. Frank Guinta (NH-1) talks a good game, but mere words are meaningless when they don’t turn into action. The Congressman’s recent “Frankly Speaking” column in the Merrimack Patch, , was full of half-truths that misled readers on his voting record. Guinta is right in that the 112th Congress is derelict in its duty to represent the interests of their constituents. However, representatives like Guinta are the reason Congress is so dysfunctional and so deserving of not only a pay freeze, but a pink slip this Nov. 6.

The approval ratings of this Congress are 9 percent, the lowest they’ve ever been in history. Congressional approval ratings have dropped drastically since President Obama took office, and they dropped to their current historic lows after the Tea Party sweep of Congress in 2010, when folks like Frank Guinta were elected. The reason for such a sudden drop in Congress’ reputation with the American public is due to Congress’ inability to get anything done that may help the American people.

Some blame both parties, and indeed, there are bad actors in both major parties. But the attitude of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell exemplifies the current incarnation of the GOP: when he was asked what his most important legislative goal was, he said it was to make Barack Obama a one-term President. McConnell and Tea Party Republicans like Frank Guinta don’t care about creating jobs, improving America’s economy, improving our public schools, fixing our healthcare systems, or even helping their home states move forward. His goal was to obstruct. And obstruction has been the Tea Party’s only game plan since taking Congress in 2010. The American people know this. That is why only 9 percent say they approve of the job the Congress has been doing.

Guinta is right to say that folks in New Hampshire should expect more from their representatives in Congress. But obstructionists like Guinta are the reason America has continued to suffer. His own legislative agenda has been pro-big corporations, anti-woman, anti-worker, anti-seniors  championed by other Tea Party Republicans. And because of his stalwart refusal to accept any other viewpoint, Guinta and his fellow Republicans in Congress have brought government to a standstill. All they seem to want is to score petty political points against their opponents instead of doing the job they’re being paid to do.

Instead of calling on his caucus to hold a vote on the American Jobs Act last October that would have created hundreds of thousands of new jobs for teachers, firefighters, police and construction workers, Guinta and his Tea Party colleagues were busy denying birth control to women and defunding Planned Parenthood programs that provide life-saving  services to women, such as breast cancer screenings.

Rather than supporting a fair budget that protects taxpayer-funded services that folks in New Hampshire use everyday, Guinta voted for the Ryan Budget, which would hand Medicare over to the private insurance companies that donate to his campaign by the tens of thousands. Instead of voting to close unnecessary loopholes and bring in new tax dollars that fund our roads, schools, food safety inspection and clean water, Frank Guinta voted for a budget that ends Meals on Wheels and kicks hundreds of thousands of kids off school lunch program to give millionaires another $300,000 tax break.

I'm 86 years old. But I and my friends care about Medicare and we also care deeply about the school children in New Hampshire.

Frank Guinta is right: Congress has failed us for too long, and the people need to hold their elected officials accountable. But Guinta’s empty rhetoric masks the fact that his obstruction has been the main obstacle to meaningful progress for the past two years.

Let’s give Frank Guinta a pink slip at the polls this Nov. 6 and fight for real representation in 2012.