To the Editor,
The following was sent to Congressman Michael Lawler.
Dear Mr. Lawler,
You boldly claim in your newsletter that you will never vote for (or support) reductions in Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid or veteran’s benefits. Yet you have already done so.
The inpatient acute care ward at Castle Point VA hospital has already been closed amid the over 2,000 layoffs already imposed on the VA and there are another 80,000 reductions in staff pending. Are you telling me that this is not a reduction in the services available to veterans like myself? Staff members at our nearby Montrose VA hospital tell me of fear and chaos pervading that institution and deep concerns over their ability to continue to provide even the services currently available.
[Editor’s Note: A spokesperson for U.S. Representative Michael Lawler told River Journal North that the congressman “has been working in a bipartisan way to prevent the inpatient unit closure of Castle Point, which is not technically in our district. We have been working with Congressman Pat Ryan on preventing the inpatient acute ward clinic from closing permanently. We sent a letter to Rep. Ryan weeks ago, as it was happening.”]
And where are you, sir? Have you made public pronouncements regarding the current and future reductions in veteran’s services? Have you publicly confronted Secretary Collins or Elon Musk or, your mentor, President Trump over this current and looming disaster? I think not.
You are far too concerned with your own little political career and will do nothing to anger those in power in the Republican Party. The preservation of your political career is far, far more important than the damage being done to us veterans, many of whom have made significant sacrifices to preserve our way of life, while you just stand aside and watch the edifice of our nation crumble. Who cares if our veterans cannot get the medical care they have earned, as long as Mike Lawler continues to get nominated and elected to office?
I need not even mention the recent budget bill you voted for (No reductions in Medicaid!!!) which instructed the Energy & Commerce Committee to cut $880 billion from current expenditures. And how do you propose that they do this, Mr. Lawler, without significant cuts to Medicaid, or maybe to Medicare?
You babble on about reducing fraud, waste, and inefficiency. But you’re just repeating the talking points you’ve been given. You know well that that is a completely phony argument. When the President fired a massive number of inspectors general, whose job it is to root out waste and inefficiency, you stood quietly, silently aside so as not to anger your leader and jeopardize your future.
And why is all of this necessary? Of course, we must preserve the massive tax reductions for billionaires (Elon Musk?) and huge corporations. If not, they may stop feeding campaign cash to you and your colleagues. And we can’t have that, can we?
Yes, the rest of us slobs get a pittance in tax reductions in the bill, and you make sure to highlight that in your newsletters. But that is just a tiny fraction of what those on the top will continue to get. But, for some strange reason, you do not feature that aspect in your newsletters.
Finally, in a recent response to my note to you on Ukraine, you stated, “I am steadfast in my support of Ukraine and will continue to hold Putin’s Russia accountable for its barbaric expansionism.” Have you made this same statement publicly to the President? A man who is doing all in his power to sell out the Ukrainians and who has become nothing more than a lackey of Vladimir Putin, one of Putin’s so-called “useful idiots.”
Mr. Lawler, grow a pair! How about a little courage instead of the cowardice you so readily display? You wax poetic on how honored you are to represent me. Well, sir, you certainly do not represent me, or many of those I know. It would be refreshing if you would start now, but I really don’t expect that to happen.
Sincerely,
Joel E. Gingold
Croton-on-Hudson
