Letter: Blind partisan ambition will be our ruin

It is astounding to me, as a conservative, that Senate Republicans ignored three independent analyses which said the federal deficit will increase with the tax schemes which were proposed; the immediate response is to question those analyses (e.g. just give me the answer I want). Moreover, they did not wait to receive the Joint Commission on Taxation's assessment of impact for the hand-scribbled bill which was voted on. That analysis, reportedly released a few hours after the vote was taken, indicated a net increase to the deficit of $1.45 trillion. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin promised a scoring from his tax experts at Treasury but he was not pressed to deliver his analysis for consideration.

Desperate to accomplish anything, no meaningful hearings were conducted. Senate Republicans blindly trusted their under-informed belief this legislative chicanery will magically work. Republicans are merely using the same flawed process they have traditionally, and rightfully, accused the Democrats of using. Blind partisan ambition by both parties is going to be our ruin - we are merely lurching from one flawed set of legislation to another.

The Senate - the greatest deliberative body? Not a chance! It's a circus. We need a new legislative demeanor in D.C.

Grant Harper

Marion