House Republicans have refused to pass routine legislation to fulfill the most basic aspect of their job: keeping the government open and working for American families.
The Missouri Chapter of the Sierra Club agrees with President Obama – any Republican proposal demanding that Americans sacrifice the health of our planet and our communities in exchange for keeping the government open is not a deal, but blackmail of the worst kind.
The Environmental Protection Agency acts as cops against toxic pollution. We are depending on the EPA to clean up the Carter Carburetor site in North St. Louis
and the Westlake nuclear dump in North County. But with the government shutdown, 90 percent of EPA staff are furloughed.
Since the Arch is a national park, it is closed during the shutdown as well. Over 10,000 visitors come there every day, generating thousands of jobs at restaurants, hotels, and transit. Those jobs disappear when the visitors disappear.
Rather than make the American people pay the cost in lost jobs and polluted air and water, House Republicans need to ditch the political posturing and get back to work!
John Hickey
Missouri Sierra Club
St. Louis