Dear Senator Wyden,

You said, “Let’s be clear about what’s happening: Donald Trump is
gutting federal funding for programs like this so Republicans can pay
for another round of tax handouts to billionaires.”

At 12:25 PM today our national debt stood at $36,529,545,409,386.00si
and we are paying $1, 050,180,827,206.00 in interest annually. Both of
these numbers are unsustainable. In fact, we spend more on the
interest for the national debt than we do for defense. That debt and
interest payment are not an (R) or a (D), it is an obligation of every
man, woman, child and yet to be born in America. If we fail to address
this condition the pain to which you alluded to, for the folks in
LaPine will seem like a case of the sniffles.

The national debt, the interest payment, the bloating of the federal
budget, the excessive federal workforce, and the waste caused by
abuse, fraud and lack of oversight are the responsibility of many.
Please allow me to list them: Bush 41, Clinton, Bush 43, Obama, Trump
45, Biden, the successive Houses of Representatives, the successive
Senates, the various Cabinet heads and Inspectors General. All of
those folks have been derelict in their duties and responsibilities to
the citizens of the United States. I am of the belief that you are
among those enumerated. If I am mistaken both for your presence and/or
the actions you may have taken please correct me and I will apologize.

I was a boy of ten and as dark was falling on that Sunday afternoon my
parents and I were returning from our barn, we had been tending
animals. The phone rang, it was a neighbor who said turn on your
radio. The Japanese had just bombed Pearl Harbor. That was a glum
evening filled with uncertainty. During much of the past four years I
have had a glum feeling about the future of America. The glumness was
lifted on January 20th of this year. We, the people, need a complete
review of how we spend federal dollars; how we staff federal
departments; evaluate if any federal department is better able to
serve the people, if it is transferred to the state; if any active
Social Security recipients are now deceased and are all federal
employees are giving a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay. Do you
agree that that is a reasonable request to be made of those in
positions of responsibility and oversight in Washington DC?

We are on the verge of a crisis on both the foreign and the national
stages. Please, enough of the cheap rhetoric. If you have a better
recommendation than that being offered by the current administration
please notify those of us to whom you are responsible.

Thank you, hank hohenstein

Hank Hohenstein, OFS
Land Steward
161 Osprey Vista
Shady Cove, OR 97539
Cell: 541-973-5442
hankhohenstein@gmail.com