Opinion: The Scranton Times-Tribune Should Read Its Own Editorials Before Giving Its Lectures

If any longtime reader of the Scranton Times-Tribune or its sister papers (Citizens’ Voice, Standard-Speaker, and Republican Herald) reads their most recent editorial on the government shutdown, you might be left feeling a little confused. The newspaper takes the side of Senate Democrats, who are withholding the votes necessary to reach the 60 votes required to end the government shutdown, because they think reopening the government should include addressing the Affordable Care Act’s expiring tax credits now, not later.

This becomes confusing when you consider this is the same newspaper that once said the exact opposite.

In 2019, when the shutdown shoe was on the other political foot, the Times-Tribune pontificated in an editorial that “It doesn’t make sense to allow any president, or any members of Congress, to be able to force a government shutdown over individual issues that can be debated, if not resolved, in the normal course of business.” The paper called shutdowns a matter of “political willingness to hold the government hostage” and urged Congress to “relegate the entire practice to the history books.”

That was the right position then. It was principled, consistent, and responsible. 

But six years later, when Democrats are the ones withholding votes to reopen the government, the same paper abandoned their own standard about hostage taking and so forth. The Times-Tribune now praises the very tactic it once condemned, calling it a “missed opportunity” that Republicans did not use the shutdown, or as they call it, a “budgetary stalemate” to push unrelated policy it once condemned. 

That kind of moral flip-flop is exactly why Americans have lost faith in so many of our institutions. When publications shift their values depending on which party is in power, they stop being referees and start being players. The behavior they once described as “holding the government hostage” is suddenly excused because it benefits the side they prefer. That is not principle. It is partisanship.

While the Times-Tribune tangles itself in moral knots, people in Northeastern Pennsylvania are living the consequences. Federal workers are missing paychecks, WIC and SNAP benefits are running out, and military families are caught in the middle.

I have spent the last six weeks trying to fix that. 51 days ago, the House passed a clean bill to keep the government open while budget talks continue. And this week, I introduced the Keep WIC Working Act to fund the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children throughout the shutdown. More than 14,000 people in Northeastern Pennsylvania rely on WIC, and I will not let innocent women, infants, and children suffer because Washington cannot get its act together. I also co-sponsored legislation to fund SNAP benefits, because families should not go hungry while the career politicians argue. 

Thankfully, not everyone is playing that game. Northeastern Pennsylvania’s bipartisan federal delegation understands that principle should not depend on party. Democrat Senator John Fetterman said, “Americans aren’t any party’s leverage.” He added, “Most Americans would find it incredibly difficult to work for five weeks without a paycheck. This shutdown is a choice. Let’s end this and pay our workers, a vote that shows principle over political party.”  

Republican Senator Dave McCormick called for passing a clean bill. He warned the shutdown is “really starting to hurt Pennsylvanians,” noting how many families rely on SNAP, and added that rules should not change based on who holds power, saying the filibuster stance “should be your view regardless of whether you’re in the majority or not.”

That is what consistency looks like across the board from NEPA’s federal delegation, and the Times-Tribune ought to take note. 

The Times-Tribune does not have to agree with Senators Fetterman and McCormick or myself. But they should at least agree with themselves. The people of Northeastern Pennsylvania deserve better than selective outrage and shifting standards.

I will continue working in a bipartisan fashion to reopen the government, pay our troops, protect essential services, and debate policy in the normal course of business. I hope the Times-Tribune will do its job too and hold everyone to the same standard, no matter which party happens to be in power.

Read the piece in the Scranton Times-Tribune here.