1. United States
2. Idaho
3. Letter

Dear Representative Simpson, I am writing in response to your recent speech and follow-up email regarding the current government shutdown. I was troubled by several points you made, and I hope you will take my concerns in the spirit of civic accountability. You repeatedly invoked a prior shutdown that occurred during President Obama’s administration, seemingly as a point of comparison. However, that was more than a decade ago, and President Obama has long since left office. Today, your party holds control of all three branches of government. Given that, I am concerned that your remarks may overlook where the responsibility for this current shutdown truly lies. It is with you and your party. You also emphasized the harm caused by the closure of national parks, framing it as a hardship for American families. While no one wants to see our parks shuttered, this comparison minimizes the far greater damage that could come from allowing healthcare premiums to spike. The policy the Democrats are advocating for is maintaining lower healthcare costs which would help working families far more profoundly than ensuring access to a weekend vacation. It appears you are out of touch with the financial realities that many if not most of your constituents are facing right now. Finally, your repeated assertion that Democrats are seeking to provide healthcare to undocumented immigrants is simply inaccurate. While I hate the idea of accusing you of knowingly lying, that appears to be what you are doing. This kind of rhetoric misinforms the public and undermines good-faith dialogue on policies that affect millions of Americans. Representative Simpson, I urge you to ground your statements in current realities and work toward a genuine solution that protects the wellbeing of American families especially their access to affordable healthcare rather than deflecting blame for political purposes. You could play a major role in ending the shutdown and ensuring access to lifesaving care if you so choose. It is both socking a devastating to me as someone represented by you that you refuse to do so and instead deflect, distract, and deceive.