Jason Smith: Nancy Pelosi wants to keep America closed to strengthen workers' reliance on government

(From Eighth District Congressman Jason Smith)

The people of Missouri are eager to return to work, spend quality time in-person with their family and friends, and to reconnect with their communities, and I couldn’t agree more.

Missourians have heeded the advice of state and local officials’ and have done their part to slow the spread of the coronavirus, but now it is time to allow them to return to their normal lives. 

The government cannot and should not manage the risk for its citizens, we the people have to do that for ourselves. 

Those are the values that live at the heart of our Republic and are enshrined in our Constitution and Bill of Rights. The laws of our country are based on individual liberty, and it’s most important we adhere to those universal laws. 

Unfortunately, while that’s exactly the approach that we are taking here in southern Missouri, it’s not the approach Speaker Pelosi is taking in Washington. 

Instead of working to empower the individual, Speaker Pelosi is trying to force her vision of big government on the American people.

Speaker Pelosi continues to keep the U.S. House of Representatives closed for businesses. She claims this is to protect the health and safety of the Representatives and their staff, but that can’t be the case if the United States Senate is conducting their normal business in the U.S. Capitol. 

The Republican-led Senate has already confirmed several of President Trump’s appointees and held an in-person committee hearing on the President’s pick to serve as the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). 

If the Senate can be in session to do their jobs—like working in-person to confirm the next DNI to ensure the continued safety of the American people—than the U.S. House can return to the Capitol Building safely. 

No, the reason Speaker Pelosi refuses to allow the U.S. House to resume its work is because she wants to keep America closed and businesses shuttered to strengthen working families’ dependence on the government. 

After all, the Left’s dream has always been replacing the free market and free speech with big-government control and censorship. 

Sadly, Speaker Pelosi doesn’t care about undermining our personal liberties protected by the Constitution. Just take a look at the months she spent discarding the norms and traditions of the U.S. House during her impeachment crusade against President Trump.

As Speaker Pelosi finalizes her next and most consequential coronavirus response bill behind closed doors, new details are beginning to emerge that are truly terrifying. 

Her bill is expected to increase funding for her partisan priorities that have absolutely nothing to do with the coronavirus. 

Even worse, instead of allowing the U.S. House to return to work and following regular order, Speaker Pelosi intends to advance the bill to the floor herself and will only open up the House once it is time to vote on her legislation. 

It’s a disgrace to democracy and the whole country that she is refusing to follow anything close to the normal legislative process. If she followed regular order and went through the standard committee process, the people’s Representatives—each speaking for roughly 750,000 Americans—could advocate for the issues impacting their communities from the coronavirus. 

Instead, the only community that is being represented is a community of one: Nancy Pelosi. I doubt she’s advocating for rural health care, family businesses, or the farmers and ranchers in southern Missouri. 

The result will be a bill that only represents the values of San Francisco liberals. I know for a fact those are not the same timeless values we honor and cherish in southern Missouri, like God, faith, and family.