Judy Barbot, Williston

Recently, our North Dakota delegation of senators Heidi Heitkamp and John Hoeven as well as Rep. Kevin Cramer was so excited to announce that they were bringing back $3 million from Washington, D.C., to fight violence against women in the Bakken area. So why should the rest of us not be pleased with this?

Our country does not have $3 million sitting in a depository somewhere just waiting to be distributed. Our country does have a debt of more than $17,500,000,000,000 that does not include unfunded liabilities. If funding violence against women in this area is so vital, then take the $3 million from the North Dakota coffers. We do have that money and we should not be sending our country deeper into debt. But bringing home the pork is so ingrained in Washington politicians that they think it is their duty whether or not we can afford it.

When I mentioned this to someone, their response was that if North Dakota didn’t take it, some other state would. And that, my friends, is the thinking that will drive our country into bankruptcy if left unchecked.