Today, I visited the Virginia 9th District Congressman’s weekly column online. Knowing Morgan Griffith’s politics, the title, Griffith on abortion, spending and the EPA made me fear that the column would portend bad news for progressives. And, it did. He was pretty hazy on how he voted for continuing to fund the government and offered no specifics about how to realistically lower the national debt, just the same old ‘cut spending and don’t tax’ mantra as a formula to energize businesses. How that will help, he didn’t explain because Republicans so far have had no answers, and their budget cuts have been far fewer than would be needed to reach their own bloated goals.
He did speak on the House floor yesterday, offering an amendment to rescind EPA funding for testing clean water. He made some outrageous claims about the EPA, e.g., “Not even expensive bottled water, like Perrier and Evian, are of good enough quality to pump out of mines in Southwest Virginia, according to the EPA regulation.” Additionally, I would challenge his statistics and inferences about the Clean Water Act:
Permits issued under the Clean Water Act affect nearly 80,000 direct coal mining jobs, as well as the coal to power nearly 80 million homes. Not only are these reckless regulations a threat to businesses in the 9th District, but they are a threat to jobs across the nation as well as America’s energy security. The passage of my amendment would be a positive step in getting the EPA of the backs of coal producers.
My questions are these: When did having clean water become an issue that our congressman can brag about being against? Why is it good for the citizens of Southwest Virginia to have unhealthy amounts of lead, mercury, uranium, and arsenic as well as many other chemicals dumped into our streams? Why do large coal companies need protection against the people who live and try to survive in coal country? Surely, they have the money to clean up their messes since the government provides subsides, and they have laid off most of the miners to more efficiently and more cheaply mine through mountain-top removal.
Finally, Griffith perpetuates the myth that Health Care Reform allows federal funding for abortions. All in all, it is not so much a newsletter; rather, it’s more like a self-serving canard that might fit better on FOX.
Some may have disagreed with Rick Boucher on any number of issues as did I, but look what we are suffering with now. I am waiting for Griffith to be proactive and try to help the 9th District instead of voting against our best interests.