Congratulations Rep. Dave Reichert on voting against the American Health Care Act changes, but sorry I’m not going to cheer for you today, you just haven’t earned it.

True believers of how catastrophic the ACHA bill is going to be for people in your district would not have waited until the final hour to state their opinion, they would’ve been out there fighting alongside the organizations, like the American Medical Association, AARP and American Cancer Society, and lobbying their colleagues to vote no to the bill.

What we will remember from May 4 is the time you made your decision. At 11:30 a.m. you were still undecided. Many of your constituents were calling your office to press you to vote against it and were being told you had still not declared your intention.

Were you wading through the finer points of the several-hundred-page proposal to find convincing facts to help you make up your mind? Or were you digging into the amendments from the night before to shed light on the final bill? Dave, do share what critical piece of information you found in the bill in the final minutes to convince you to vote no.

More likely, you were sitting in your office waiting for the call from your masters? You must have been wondering if the Republicans had achieved the critical number of votes for the bill to pass without your vote. Would you be given permission to vote against your party? Come on, we’re not naïve about how this works, if they needed your vote you would’ve given it to them without a second thought.

If you want us to believe you’re not a Trump Party Puppet — get ahead of the vote and state your position, show us some action to speak out on the matter in D.C. and persuade others to vote with you. This is a man or mouse moment, and right now all we hear is squeaking. You may have trouble in deciding which way to vote, but we will not in 2018, unless we see real change in your behavior.

Gayna Williams

Issaquah