Economy should be No. 1 priority

I agree with the writer of the Jan. 29 letter that economic recovery is the most critical issue facing our national government and the brinksmanship used to force concessions from the opposition on less important issues is harming our recovery.

The four-month extension of the debt limit by Congress does not relieve the uncertainty harming our economy, it simply extends it. We are left with four more months of worrying if Congress will finally lose its sanity, destroying our economy. We are kept from taking the financial risks necessary to accelerate the economic recovery by the fear ideologues will precipitate economic disaster by clinging to their principles ignoring the welfare of the American people.

I, too, was impressed by Jeff Denham's courage in voting "aye" on the fiscal cliff legislation.

But does he have the leadership needed to shift Congress from its current mode of destructive confrontation to constructive negotiation, placing the needs of the American people before allegiance to their ideologies?

I would very much like to hear his plans to bring the brinksmanship in Congress to an end and place our current slow recovery on a more solid footing, allowing it to accelerate its growth.

BRANDI GILMER

Modesto