Congress an embarrassment

It is totally disgusting that our do-nothing U.S. senators and representatives — Republican, Democrat and independent — have been unable to pass a permanent budget package for fiscal year 2018, already four months late with one previous shutdown and another looming.

Five hundred thirty-five legislators are eligible for a pension after five years, in addition to subsidized health insurance and other perks, all with our dollars. Many also end up millionaires at our expense. When elected, their first priority is to get re-elected; their second priority is to promote their self-serving agendas.

As a start, at least two actions are needed, but will never happen under our present system:

1. Reduce the size of Congress by at least one-half. Can anyone tell me how 100 people in one room and 435 people in another will agree or compromise on anything?

2. Mandate one eight-year term for all elected legislators, with elections staggered every two years.

Even with the many critical issues that face the American people, our inept, pitiful, overpaid Congress cannot be spurred into meaningful action. Frequently, their level of maturity is akin to that of nursery school children, in reality, a gross injustice to our nursery school children.

Our legislators are an embarrassment to this nation and to themselves. The future is bleak indeed.

Joe Bertolaccini

Orrington

Lift Medicare therapy service cap

We are happy to see that Maine’s congressional delegation unanimously supports bipartisan legislation to end an arbitrary cap on the annual amount Medicare will cover for those who need outpatient therapy services. These arbitrary spending limits are preventing older Mainers from receiving the rehabilitation care they need from their therapists.

Strokes, surgeries and trauma from falls or other injuries sometimes result in patients’ needing extensive care by physical, occupational or speech therapists. Unfortunately, because of the existing therapy caps, many seniors on Medicare are facing expensive out-of-pocket costs for treatments they need.

A failure by Congress to repeal a harsh limit on therapy treatments poses very real financial and medical threats to seniors already struggling from strokes or debilitating conditions like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Some could be forced to ration care. Others may simply not be able to afford as many therapy sessions as they need, putting them in danger of new injuries.

Rehabilitation services are critical for seniors to maintain their independence so they can remain in their homes. Therapy also helps to avoid costly nursing home care or hospitalizations that can bankrupt those who are already struggling with high health care costs.

Seniors have worked hard and paid into Medicare their whole lives. Congress needs to immediately fix this harmful policy so seniors can get the rehabilitation services they need. We look forward to hearing more from our delegation on their work to repeal these heartless caps which will only hasten the ill-health of our most vulnerable neighbors.

John and Vilene Farina

Outreach volunteers

AARP Maine

Brewer

LePage right to block wind energy

It was with a sense of relief that I read the news that Gov. Paul LePage has put the brakes on further wind energy development in Maine. Turning our beautiful state into an industrial wasteland in the name of fueling the unsustainable energy consumption of our southern neighbors is neither “green” nor a wise investment of our own dwindling resources.

Larry Balchen

Jonesport

Unfair retirement policy

Thank you, Karen Holmes, for keeping the topic of the windfall elimination provision and the government pension offset alive in her Jan. 12 letter to the editor. I have read several of her letters over the past few years, knowing I would be negatively affected by the windfall elimination provision.

When I first became aware of this discriminatory practice, I thought surely by the time I retired it would be resolved. I wrote to legislators, I called their offices, I encouraged friends and colleagues to do the same. My hopes were high each time a bill was introduced for repeal, most recently as the Social Security Fairness Act of 2017. Each time, though, those hopes were dashed because no bill for repeal was ever brought to a vote.

Now, as my retirement is near, the reality of this unfair public policy is being realized. My Social Security benefit will be significantly reduced. I will be discriminated against because I chose teaching as a second career and live in one of 15 states that are allowed to discriminate against teachers and others in this manner. I contributed to Social Security for 27 years. I am in my 27th year of Maine state retirement contributions.

Why should I be penalized for contributing to both? I ask this question seriously. If anyone out there can explain, please respond. It would also be great to hear from others who are adversely affected by these provisions.

Carolyn Ayer

Hermon

Washington swamp creatures

Have we ever seen a better example of the insane behavior of Washington, D.C., swamp creatures than the White House press conference on Jan. 16 when the press, heavily under the influence of Trump Derangement Syndrome, competed among themselves to interrogate Navy Rear Adm. Ronny S. Jackson, M.D., with the most ridiculous questions? These swamp creatures have no idea how stupid they appear to those of us outside the coastal elites.

John Shaw

Caribou

Shameful threat against ‘Dreamers’

Threatening to deport young adults brought here illegally by their parents years ago, the “Dreamers,” is the same as threatening young legal citizens with a prison sentence because it was discovered that their parents had placed them in the getaway car during their bank robbery years ago.

Who among us wants to be guilty for the sins of our father? Do we have blood in our veins or ice water?

Shame on President Donald Trump. Shame on congressional Republicans. Shame on all who agree with them.

George Howitt

Sebec

Too soon to write off puma?

In response to the Jan. 22 article on extinction of the eastern puma: In October, several people on Mount Desert Island reportedly saw a puma. One described it as the size of a large dog, the color of a yellow lab, long thin tail and a cat face. Deer hunting is not allowed on MDI, and I can believe that a puma was wandering through.

Tom Adams

Southwest Harbor