Mar 23, 2016 2 min read

I have on my desk five recently received flyers from”Bill Shuster for Congress.” Interestingly these flyers feature pictures of Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, and Ben Carson, all “Republican outsider” candidates for president of our country. Mr. Shuster, a Washington insider, seems to want to align himself with the outsiders.

The flyers tell me that “Washington is broken” and Bill Shuster is leading the “Conservative fight in congress.” Well, since Mr. Shuster first began to serve in 2001, what has been accomplished?

The House has been controlled by the Republicans now since 2011 and the Senate for the past year. All Mr. Shuster’s flyers tell me what he fights for and the list is long: defeating Obamacare, cutting the deficit, ending wasteful spending, destroying ISIS, and standing against amnesty. I haven’t seen any progress in these areas. ISIS is winning, the deficit keeps growing, Obamacare is still wreaking havoc, and Washington is steeped in wasteful spending.

Voting to repeal Obamacare 60 times seems to me a grandstanding approach that hasn’t helped to improve the situation at all. I think we need a change.

This year there is an upstanding Republican opposing Mr. Shuster for the congressional seat in the 9th district, Mr. Art Halvorson. Mr. Halvorson has made three campaign promises. He will only run for three consecutive terms (6 years), he will never vote to fund Planned Parenthood, and he will not accept a congressional pension. For you fellow Republicans, who are tired of the way things are going, check him out at www.arthalvorsonforcongress.com.

Maureen Vilcek

Blairsville