House was doing its job with budget

Regarding the (recent) government shutdown, let's be clear. The House of Representatives was doing its job after years of ignoring its fiscal responsibility to the people's Republic. ... According to Benjamin Franklin: “It was always of importance that the people should know who had disposed of their money and how they disposed it.” This end, he thought, best be attained if money affairs were to be confined to the immediate representatives of the people.

The Founding Fathers gave much consideration to the point that the first branch of government be the immediate representatives of the people, thus the House of Representatives. The second branch, the Senate, would not.

Thus, it is the obligation and duty of the president and the Senate to negotiate and compromise with the House. The House has a mandate to be judicious and fiscally responsible. Obamacare is not within our fiscal means, nor our responsibility. We don't spend more than we take in and only spend it on issues of safety and commerce. Everything else, the free market and private sector will support. This has been our success story for 200 years.

Connie Armstrong

Cedar Rapids