Obama isn’t wasting his sequester crisis

A few years ago, President Barack Obama’s then-chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, said, “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.”

Is not the Obama administration now attempting to create a perceived crisis with the sequester cuts? Mr. Obama and his Democratic Party members are attempting to make the American people quake. Was it not long ago when Mr. Obama strongly supported the sequester? Does anyone know what percentage of the federal budget the sequester represents? It is a fraction of the $3.5 trillion budget.

Mr. Obama and party are going around the country saying the economy will collapse should the sequester go forward. They mention, just to name a few, that teacher and firefighter layoffs will occur. The sequester would not affect them at all. Why? Because they are paid by state and local governments.

The Obama administration is trying to create a crisis. In my opinion, their actions are the height of hypocrisy. Why cannot the federal government operate like the private sector does in tough times?

CLARENCE LANZRATH

LAS VEGAS

No bang for the buck

To the editor:

According to the Congressional Research Service, it costs on average $1.52 million per member of the House of Representatives and about $3.38 million per senator in the Senate. These figures include salaries and allowances. The total cost for all representatives and senators is about $1 billion annually.

The amount of time a member of Congress actually spends doing legislative work in Washington, D.C., probably varies between 140 and 150 days each year. This figure takes into consideration weekends, holidays, time spent in their districts, congressional recesses and vacations. It does not include time spent campaigning for re-election. The average working American will have around 240 working days if he takes a two-week vacation and holidays.

The question is, what are we getting for our money? Certainly, minor pieces of legislation are enacted, usually the type of legislation pertaining to a specific locale and of no consequence to the rest of the nation. But when it comes to dealing with major problems and decisions, collectively the House and the Senate have been woefully inadequate, if not inept.

Today it is sequestration, a couple of months ago it was the fiscal cliff. The list is endless. Who can forget the passage of ObamaCare by a Congress that had not even read its contents? How just is it for a legislative body to pass legislation but exempt itself from its requirements?

It is time for voters to sit back and take a hard look at those we elect to Congress. Honesty, sincerity and integrity should be the guidelines, not party affiliation, charisma or rhetoric. Picking the right person is not an easy task, but if we don’t try, then we cannot expect anything to change. And that is not good.

C.H. NORDHILL

LAS VEGAS

Employee health

To the editor:

Do we really care about an employee’s health?

The Southern Nevada Health District monitors restaurants and bars throughout the county in search of health violations. That’s fine. OSHA responds to hazardous conditions in the workplace. That’s great.

The casino industry has a wellness day for their nonunion employees, as well as health examinations on property. As for their union employees, they would like the casinos to pay for their health care, but that’s beside the point.

The thing is, of all these champions of employee health, not one of them is pushing for no smoking in all public places, especially in casinos, when they know the danger of secondhand smoke.

Until they do, can any of them honestly say they really care about your health?

FRANK R. DINICOLA

HENDERSON