Bipartisan vote

Missourians should be delighted with the overwhelming vote by which the Missouri House of Representatives passed House Resolution 39 on only their fourth legislative day, Jan. 11.

HR 39, which passed by a vote of 115 to 46, calls on Attorney General Koster to join in the constitutional challenge seeking to overturn the federal health care reform law passed last March. Included in this overwhelming majority were 10 democratic representatives, or 17.5 percent of the democratic members of the House, including three from Southeast Missouri: representative Joe Fallert (Ste. Genevieve), representative Steve Hodges (East Prairie) and representative Terry Swinger (Caruthersville).

As one who launched this fight in the first quarter of last year, I am delighted at this show of bipartisanship in carrying out the will of Missourians demonstrated so vividly in the August primary and November general election.

I await attorney general Koster's response.

PETER D. KINDER, Lt. Governor, Cape Girardeau