Opportunities lost as Democrats pursue impeachment

The past almost nine months in the U.S. House of Representatives has truly been a period of opportunity lost.

January 2019 began with Democratic leadership having shut down the government rather than engaging in a negotiation to strengthen our national and border security as well as negotiate comprehensive illegal immigration reform.

The opportunity was there, but it was squandered. Why? Only one reason. President Donald Trump would have received credit for this accomplishment.

Since then, nothing has changed. The House Democrats voted for H.R. 6, giving amnesty to illegal immigrants, and H.R. 1, a bill to provide for the complete federal government takeover of elections. These two bills will never become law but did provide false hope to the Democratic base, including those here illegally. The opportunity was lost, and hypocrisy continued.

We had an opportunity to reduce costs of prescription drugs, yet they filled their bill with “poison-pill” provisions such as propping up failed aspects of Obamacare and banning Association Health Plans (a clear attempt to concentrate power in the hands of the few — i.e. the government, not the people).

Democratic leadership also passed, with much fanfare, a bill to more than double the minimum wage, another bill going nowhere. This bill would, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office and every other major study, lead to the loss of millions of jobs.

Democrats rail against deficit spending, never mentioning of course the $10 trillion in deficit spending during the Obama administration, yet they still fail to pass a budget resolution out of the Budget Committee. This is hypocrisy at its highest level.

Further, the Democrats showed support for the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement, which is an extremely hostile and existential threat to Israel. And to really show how out of touch and extreme they have become, they would not bring a bill banning infanticide, also known as born-alive abortions, to the House floor for a vote.

While all of this was taking place, they of course wasted tens of millions of taxpayer dollars on the special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation to nowhere, which vindicated the president.

Now they are fanning another media-driven flame by initiating an impeachment inquiry against the president.

What we could have accomplished if Democratic leadership prioritized the people over politics and worked with Republicans is staggering: border security and illegal immigration reform; lower drug costs, premiums and deductibles for families; surprise billing; making the middle-class tax cuts permanent; passing a robust transportation infrastructure bill; promoting free, fair, and reciprocal trade globally; and passing the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement and other America-first (but not America alone) trade agreements, which will grow our domestic industry and agricultural exports.

The extreme left has overthrown the traditional Democratic Party; the left wing has become the whole bird. Democrats advocate for no borders, illegal immigrants receiving amnesty and taxpayer funded health care, reducing military readiness, government takeover of healthcare, infanticide, threatening Israel, and every big government program imaginable, including the Green New Deal.

And they are showing no regard for the Constitution. They clearly believe that since they cannot beat the president, they must impeach him; evidence be damned. This should be an outrage to all, regardless of party affiliation. It certainly is opportunity lost.

U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser, a Luzerne County Republican, represents Pennsylvania’s 9th Congressional District, which includes most of Berks County.