Dear editor:

When I applied for a Social Security cards in 1953 at 16 it was to go to work and create a personal legacy. I did not do so to create a venue wherein our Congress would debate or argue about what commitment I had, or had not, made. I was clear about my contract with America-my fellow citizens.

The Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction should have accepted the charge and stayed with the subject. It was never that they could craft their own charge or mission. Co-chair Patty Murray uttered that the purpose was to “draw a line in the sand.” Not so. It was to stop living on credit cards and re-financing life with new credit cards. How hard is that to understand?

What really got my attention is that 12 fellow citizens, sworn to loyalty, could not meet and talk about the subject at hand. Why was it that some member (s) had to talk outside that framework by leaking information. Fact is, there would be no need for a staff. That is business as usual. If it means anything to the citizens of Covington County let me say that if the Committee understood motives and purposes of American citizens, the consensus items, the job was not complicated. Cut from this fiscal year that which is not needed. Why would they be talking about budget items nine years hence. Some of them are too old to be around for the outcome.

Charles McGee

Social Security Recipient

VA Compensation Recipient

Andalusia