Letters: ‘Like Manchin and Sinema’

This newspaper published a letter under the headline “An Open Letter to Jim Costa.” That letter said, “Socialism bad, protect your grandchildren and mine, congressman. Vote like Manchin and Sinema.”

Let’s take a shallow dive into that letter from a frequently published local deep-thinker. Socialism is bad (except when Trump cult Republicans abuse government to return to the Antebellum South). And socialism is bad for Congressman Costa’s grandchildren (Congressman Costa, one of our country’s most conservative to moderate Democrats, has no grandchildren.)

But the letter writer pleads for Costa to vote like Senators Manchin and Sinema. That begs the question: What did those two senators vote for this year? Each voted for the $1.9 trillion February American Rescue Plan. That bill included money for stimulus payments, jobless benefits, Obamacare, Medicaid, child tax credits, Amtrak and the arts. The bill set aside monies for schools, restaurants, theaters, farmers, student debt relief, and public broadcasting. It was a COVID-19 relief bill that funded vaccine related issues.

Manchin and Sinema, additionally, voted for the $1.2 trillion August infrastructure bill that provides taxpayer dollars for projects involving roads, bridges, water, ports, airports, broadband, electric vehicles, the electric grid, railways, and environmental hazard site cleanups.

And Manchin, the senator from West Virginia who lives on a yacht and drives a Maserati, and Sinema, the Arizona bi-sexual senator with no religious affiliation, have stated that they are willing to vote for another Biden bill, a reconciliation bill, as long as it is under $2 trillion and doesn’t contain provisions with which they disagree. I don’t know what they mean but their local cheer leader is all in (“Join senators Manchin and Sinema against the radical move towards socialism…”).

Lastly, for those of us who believe in facts and are willing to read to discover those facts, Costa voted for those two bills, too. You know: Like Manchin and Sinema.

Where’s the beef?

— Charles Wieland,

Madera