Roger Marshall, your newsletter should help Kansans, not just slam Biden and Harris | Opinion

An open letter to Kansas Sen. Roger “Doc” Marshall:

Your weekly email blast known as A Doctor’s Note usually cites some policy failure by the Biden administration. Seldom does it say anything of constructive interest to Kansans. But in the Aug. 30 edition, I was pleased to see your lead item dedicated to an issue of genuine concern to your constituents: Kansas’ endangered water supply.

By engaging local interest groups and experts, you advocated for conservation in a state with a crucial strategic need for water resources. I hope you will do something about this trend and push for a more sustainable future for the farmers and other citizens of your state. I’ll look forward to seeing your specific action on this issue.

Unfortunately, A Doctor’s Note then reverted to form by accusing the Biden administration of “manipulating job reports.” You said officials were “caught red-handed,” but you had no proof, other than the announcement of revised employment numbers, which happens every August. Your accusation was sensational but without substance.

The revised job numbers resulted from the annual audit of the Department of Labor’s job statistics, which occurs every time the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages is published. This report always dictates a recalculation, often downward. This is common when compiling, analyzing and reporting periodic jobs numbers. It happens every year and is not the result of “book-cooking” by the administration.

This year’s adjustment was indeed much larger than usual, primarily because of a new rule that required the Labor Department to retroactively exclude employment statistics for immigrants who lack legal access to unemployment benefits. This new change occurred in reaction to a GOP call for transparency in how immigrants in the country illegally are affecting the U.S. job market. Republicans’ demands changed the numbers, not the Biden administration.

You complained that “high interest rates have made it impossible to buy a home, energy costs are through the roof, and Americans can’t afford gas and groceries.” But you know this jobs number change will directly urge the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates, which will translate to reduced credit card, mortgage and auto loan interest rates, not to mention stimulating new corporate investments in research and development, infrastructure and personnel. You claimed “we aren’t close to lowering interest rates,” but you know that because these revised jobs numbers, the Fed is preparing to do so in September, just in time for the election.

Your note to the Department of Labor demands to know “why it routinely comes nowhere close to getting the numbers right on job creation.” Well, which is it? Were the books cooked by the Biden administration, or does the Labor Department get it wrong every year? You know this revision occurs annually. You also know that this year it occurred as a result of a Republican-mandated survey rule change. And you know that these amended results will move the Fed to act in favor of Americans’ economic interests.

Yet this isn’t what you told Kansans in your Aug. 30 edition of A Doctor’s Note. Instead, you chose to accuse the Biden administration of “using taxpayer dollars to mislead the public in jobs reports for political gain.” I have to ask, Senator, are you using taxpayer dollars to publish A Doctor’s Note that is designed to “play politics with economic data”? Your constituents deserve an honest answer.

I noticed you started saying “Biden-Harris administration” about a month ago. But you know both policy and action derive specifically from the chief executive. It’s still the Biden administration for the next five months, and Kansas’ unemployment rate is 3.2% today. Publish that in next week’s A Doctor’s Note.

Steve Paddock is a retired telecommunications professional. He lives in Lenexa.