Cornyn Failing People of Texas

The impeached popular vote loser in the White House and his enablers in the Senate fiddle while Rome burns. The House passed the HEROES Act months ago which would continue the enhanced unemployment benefits that have kept many Americans afloat along with providing funds for cities and states to allow them to continue to pay police, firefighters, health department staff or other critical city and state services while the national economy shrinks due to the pandemic. Frustratingly neither our senator, John Cornyn (R), nor the rest of Senate Republican leadership has shown any interest in taking up that bill. Instead they’ve been unable to even reach agreement on a wide ranging bill of their own. Worse they’ve decided to try slicing up the topics into separate bills because they can’t get agreement amongst their own membership on all the topics.

State and local governments have hemorrhaged 1.5 million jobs due to the huge downturn in sales tax and other revenues. Unemployment has continued to grow and yet John Cornyn’s Republican colleagues claim that continuing the extra $600 a week of unemployment benefits will somehow discourage people from going back to work. While that extra money does offer a few people more than they would normally earn in a week it doesn’t come close to offsetting the extra money they spend on insurance premiums usually paid by their employer. As in anything I’m sure a few people are taking advantage but that happens with anything, whether it’s the grocery with a sale on turkeys, limit 2, or health insurance fraud committed by doctors. That doesn’t even take into account that the reason so many are out of work is that there are so few jobs available. I know several people looking for work every day including weekends who can find nothing they qualify for.

National news often talks about Mitch McConnell as the Senate Majority Leader having the lead role in this travesty by we in Texas should remember that his second in command is our own John Cornyn  and like anyone in such a position he has tremendous influence in the course taken by his superior. Instead of showing any interest in addressing the pandemic or the economic devastation it is causing John Cornyn has marched in lock step with McConnell. Just a couple of weeks ago Cornyn had the gall to suggest that children might not be able to contract COVID-19, a day or two later San Antonio reported more than 200 of cases of infants with it. In the last week alone over one thousand Texans died of COVID-19, Cornyn is out of touch with the people of Texas as much as he is with reality.

Early voting for the November general election starts October 13, that gives us six extra days to vote. If we’re going to turn this ship of state around before it strikes an iceberg and sinks like the Titanic it is imperative that we all get to the polls, wear your mask, and elect people who are in touch with reality and the needs of Texans, a good start would be to replace Sen. Cornyn with former Air Force helicopter pilot M.J. Hegar.

Hegar was on her third tour to Afghanistan, when her helicopter was shot down near Kandahar on a combat search-and-rescue mission. She received shrapnel wounds in her arm and leg from Taliban ground fire, and her helicopter was forced to make an emergency landing. Other U.S. Army helicopters rescued her, her team, and the other soldiers. Hegar received a Purple Heart and the Distinguished Flying Cross with Valor device.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - August 5, 2020