As of last week we now have a new speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States. The new occupant of that position is no less than Representative Paul Ryan. Yes, the same Paul Ryan who was chosen as the vice presidential candidate by Republican Mitt Romney in 2012.
The same Paul Ryan that, being chairman of the powerful Budget committee in the House of Representatives, wanted to repeal the healthcare law signed by President Obama in 2010. The same Paul Ryan who wants to replace the Medicare program with a coupon program, putting at risk the health of our seniors in order to satisfy his political ambition.
It seems that since ascending to office of Speaker of the House nothing has changed, according to his most recent comments, especially regarding immigration reform.
In an interview with the NBC’s Meet the Press, Mr. Ryan attacked the executive orders that President Obama signed in 2014, protecting young people who came to this country through no fault of their own, better known as deferred action. Accusing President Obama of displaying arrogance when it comes to working with the Congress, he said that “the President proved that we cannot rely on him on that subject”, guaranteeing that there will be no immigration reform under the remaining leadership of President Obama.
It is unusual to think that someone elected to that post, someone who is third in the line of succession to be President of the United States, ruled out so easily and by pure politics, one of the biggest problems facing the country. This kind tantrum by any leader of the nation is intolerable, especially with the serious problems we face.
A curious thing about Paul Ryan, the new Speaker of the House, were his demands made to his colleagues before agreeing to run for the job. He demanded that free time with his family be respected. Interesting, since Paul Ryan has been against granting paid time-off of to parents with newborn babies, a right given by the rest of the world’s industrialized countries to their citizens. This is hypocrisy at its finest, especially if you take into account that, of itself, the House of Representatives only works up to 3 or 4 days a week, while there are families working 7 days a week and sometimes up to three different jobs to be able to support their families.
Ryan’s predecessor, John Boehner, although a Republican, at least had good intentions of addressing the problems that continue to plague many communities, especially Latinos. When he saw that it was impossible to accomplish this in the face of the most die-hard voices of his party, he decided to retire.
Well, enough is enough! The coming year we have another opportunity to exercise our voice using the power of our vote.
Republicans know that they may not win the Presidency without the Latino vote, and run the risk of losing power in the House of Representatives and the Senate. Families, continue listening to candidates who want to represent us, and if they are not representing the values of our community, then they shouldn’t be allowed to govern!
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