To the Editor:
Congressman Erik Paulsen has made it clear to his constituents in the Minnesota 3rd District that he is little more than a follower of President Donald Trump and the Republican Party.
His recent votes, especially on the American Health Care Act, have shown that he is willing to put party over the good of the Minnesotan 3rd. While he attempted to explain his vote in his May Star Tribune op-ed, Paulsen fails to convincingly address the issues.
While Congressman Paulsen blames rising premiums and deductibles on the ACA, he ignores the fact that there are risk and market stabilization programs built into the ACA: risk adjustment, reinsurance and risk corridor.
The problem, however, was that the Republican Party put partisanship over people and refused to allow the government to use the programs, which has created the current price hikes.
The fact is that the Republicans in Congress, including Congressman Paulsen, ensured that the ACA would fail by never implementing the programs that were in place to stabilize the markets. His justification for his vote for the AHCA is based on a problem that he himself helped to create. Although Congressman Paulsen has come out in favor of an independent investigation, this is too little and far too late.
This is something that the Congressman is able to say and appease the minds of his constituents, but ultimately will have little actual effect on policy. As constituents, our greatest power is our voice. As a Congressman, Paulsen’s power is his vote. And he voted against us. While it is nice that he is lending his voice to the cause of creating an independent investigation to investigate Russian interference into the election, Congressman Paulsen’s lip service to his constituents should not be seen as anything other than an attempt to cover his tracks, and allow him to continue to support the Trump agenda.
Mia Berman, Minnetonka
Eden Prairie News, May 18, 2017