No wonder there’s gridlock

The March 24 headline, “Senate passes budget plan,” subtitled “All Republicans opposed,” caught my eye. I was reminded of Rep. Kris Crawford of South Carolina. Earlier this year the South Carolina House of Representatives was debating the expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, a move that would bring medical care to some 500,000 South Carolinians.

In an interview with a Charleston newspaper, Crawford, himself an emergency room doctor, said he supported the expansion of Medicaid despite the fact his Republican colleagues were of the opposite opinion. Crawford said, “The politics are going to overwhelm the policy. It is good politics to oppose the black guy in the White House right now, especially for the Republican Party.”

While one might be impressed with an honest Republican confirming what many of us already know, Crawford went with the “good politics” gang and voted against the expansion. Does anyone still wonder why there is such gridlock in Washington, D.C.?

Janet Callen

Coeur d’Alene