Rep. Jeff Denham reminds us of the slave who used to ride in the chariot of the Roman emperor, returning triumphant from conquest. "All fame is fleeting," the slave would whisper into the leader's ear. "All fame is fleeting." A reminder not to get too far ahead of yourself.
Denham has been doing that in Washington since he left Sacramento in late 2010 after serving as a state senator for eight years. His district, the 19th, covers parts of Fresno, Madera, Mariposa, Tuolumne and Stanislaus counties.
He's stood out from his freshman colleagues on two noteworthy fronts: reining in federal spending; and support for the U.S. military.
We're not the only ones who've noticed these admirable traits. Roll Call, the venerable Capitol Hill publication, recently wrote this about Denham:
"Denham has been the voice near Obama's ear, sometimes not so quietly reminding the president and his allies that their spending has to be smart and frugal. Whether they pay attention to the onetime college football player has yet to be learned, but they can't help but hear his demands for austerity."
Here's Denham's statement this week on the president's 2013 budget: "After four years of trillion- dollar deficits and $15 trillion of debt, we cannot keep spending money we don't have on failed government programs. The 2009 stimulus promised that if we spend more money, unemployment would be at 6 percent today. Instead, more than 8 percent of Americans remain unemployed."
And we admire the way Denham, an Air Force veteran, keeps pushing the VA and other bureaucracies to take care of the men and women who have served or are serving their nation. His bill, "The Efficient Service for Veterans Act," will make it much faster and easier for a veteran who needs care fast to either access his own records of allows a VA facility to do so.
Veterans can get their all-important DD-214 form, which verifies their service record electronically, but it still takes time; Denham's bill would streamline the process. (The website for accessing records online: www.archives.gov/ veterans/military-service- records/.)
While there are many issues that our representatives in Congress deal with, of which fiscal responsibility and veteran's affairs are but two, we applaud Denham's tenacity and responsibility on behalf of our region. With stifling unemployment and more than 12,000 veterans living in the Valley, we encourage Denham to keep on serving those who have served -- and those who want to.
Editorials are the opinion of the Merced Sun-Star editorial board. Members of the editorial board include Publisher Eric Johnston, Executive Editor Mike Tharp, Online Editor Brandon Bowers and Guest Editor Jessica Boerner-Grissom.
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