Letter: Wake up and smell the deficit, Senator

Monday, Oct. 17, 2005 | 8 a.m.

Sen. John Ensign's defense of his actions in your Oct. 9 newspaper, "Hurricane bill wasteful spending," is another example of his disconnect with the needs and true compassion of Americans. He writes he was justified in voting against a bill that would provide $9 billon for Medicaid reimbursements to states burdened with an influx of new residents in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

He cited that Congress has set aside $62 billion for hurricane relief and that the additional $9 billion was just "wasteful and irresponsible additional spending."

It's interesting to see that he voted for over $350 billion for the war in Iraq. He voted for the energy bill, which gives billion-dollar tax breaks to oil companies. Finally, he voted for the Fiscal Year 2006 U.S. Budget that projects a deficit of $571 billion for 2006, and he did not find that wasteful and irresponsible.

Senator Ensign is one of those borrow-and-spend Republicans who believe we can mortgage our future with a national debt approaching $8 trillion while giving tax breaks to wealthy Americans. Wake up, Senator Ensign, billion-dollar special interests don't need help, working class Americans and people without medical care do!

Wayne Smith

North Las Vegas