BY Cam Jandrow Worcester
On Wednesday, Massachusetts Congressman Richard Neal (D-First Massachusetts District) described himself as frustrated when discussing the government shutdown in it’s third week. The big sticking point for the Democrats in Congress has been the extension of the Affordable Care Act tax credits. Neal said without the extension more than twenty-four million Americans will lose their health care. He’s asking his Republican colleagues to come together and extend the tax credits saying it’s the easiest path towards re-opening the government. South Carolina Senator Lindsay Graham (R) told Spectrum News 1 in a different interview the Affordable Care Act was ‘unaffordable.’ When asked whether he agreed with Graham’s assessment Neal said, “Well, it’s interesting. They’ve been saying that now for 15 years and they’ve never come close to offering a competing plan, that’s for sure. I mean, Republicans simply do not agree on where the health care system ought to go. So I would reject the thesis of what the senator is suggesting by pointing out they are no longer talking about repealing it.”
Neal also weighed in on President Trump’s tariffs after farmers from across the country have shared concerns over their struggles. The President recently announced a $20 billion bailout of Argentina. It comes amid soybeans harvesting season and China is no longer purchasing soybeans from the United States as a result of the tariffs and instead are buying from Argentina. Neal added, “This is a currency swap. Argentina is now prepared to sell the same soybeans to China that our farmers were prepared to offer during the last couple of months. This is the high season for agriculture as it relates to soybean exports. But what’s really interesting about this, in twenty-four hours we’ve gone from a $20 billion currency swap to a $40 billion currency swap while the tariffs in America certainly are not working.”
Congressman Neal said the bailout comes at a time tens of thousands of Americans are being laid off and services are being cut adding to Neal’s frustration. The veteran Democrat said there is a contingent of lawmakers working towards reaching the negotiations phase to end the shutdown but Neal again said, in his opinion, the fastest way to get there is the extension of those Affordable Care Act tax credits.
