Yes to pork barrel legislation
I’m certainly not alone being confused about the spending spree that is enveloping our nation’s capital. Let’s skip over the pending $3.5 trillion reconciliation package, which could more appropriately be termed entitlement legislation, and focus on the bipartisan infrastructure bill that’s now thankfully below $1 trillion.
I’m all for bridges but don’t like massive top-down legislation, rather preferring a return to grassroots pork-barrel legislation that allows those we elected — Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, Rep. Raul Grijalva, Sen. Mark Kelly and the others — to personally secure federal money for local projects, retaining our trust and vote.
But now Rep. Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Mitch McConnell and Sen. Chuck Schumer run the show, and Arizonans are disenfranchised because we never voted for them.
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Our elected representatives no longer have a name or a voice; what only matters is if there is a (D) or (R) after their names. If Arizona needs a new bridge across the Santa Cruz, let our legislators figure out how add it to a bill funding pig farms in Iowa.
Jeffrey McConnell
West side
RTA and water rates
How sad that the Tucson Mayor and City Council threaten to drop out of the Regional Transportation Authority because Tucson is underrepresented on the RTA. Yet these same politicians want to sock higher water rates to unincorporated Pima County residents who have zero representation on the Tucson Water system. Do these hypocrites even see the irony, or are they just shameless? Maybe both organizations need to properly represent all of their constituents.
Charles Broder
Foothills
Get your vaccine, booster ASAP
Many anti-vaxxers are gloating about COVID-19 breakthroughs that some vaccinated people are experiencing, while ignoring pertinent facts:
1. No vaccine ever produced is 100% effective. No one in the government or any health organization ever claimed them to be 100% effective.
2. COVID vaccines have high efficacy (94% to 97%) against COVID-19. That’s substantially higher than the flu vaccine that’s been tweaked for years. Variants are lowering the efficacy somewhat.
3. Those who have had the vaccine and experience a breakthrough usually get mild symptoms, much like a cold, or are asymptomatic.
4. A few breakthrough cases do require hospitalization, but that is infrequent. Ninety-nine percent of those who currently test positively for COVID-19 are unvaccinated and 97% of the deaths due to the virus are unvaccinated.
The massive benefits of getting vaccinated are obvious. Too many of those unvaccinated people want the vaccine — when they are on ventilators or dying. That’s too late!
Barbara Mongan
West side
Medicare drug prices
Three letters printed in the Sept. 29 Daily Star follow a cookie-cutter format: claiming personal experience with illness, decrying the COVID pandemic, and warning that Democrats in Congress want to destroy Medicare Part D by negotiating prices. If these form letters come from real people and not fictional identities created by the pharmaceutical lobby, they are a striking reminder of how dependably the party faithful regurgitate the propaganda they are fed.
Republicans once celebrated their dear leader’s promises to lower Medicare drug costs. Now, when the present administration actually threatens to do what the last administration merely promised, it is an assault on our health and safety.
Such reversals are no surprise. But it is sad that Sen. Kyrsten Sinema — elected on a platform of seeking lower drug prices — has let $750,000 from pharmaceutical companies turn her into the Republicans’ partner in hypocrisy. Is $750,000 the inflationary equivalent of 30 pieces of silver?
Andrew Browning
Foothills
Sinema insults AZ and the nation
We finally concluded the Cyber Ninja’s fraudit, and now we have Sen. Kyrsten Sinema to thank for insulting the Arizona voters who sent her to Washington.
Let me be clear: I consider myself a diehard Democrat. Nothing pleased me more than finally electing two Democratic U.S. Senators and a Democratic President of the U.S.
But Sinema seems to think she can do what she wants without answering to the public. When asked today “where she is” on the hugely contentious reconciliation bill with a critical vote pending, she answered, “I’m in the Senate.” When the reporter persisted and rephrased the question, Sinema mocked him even further by stating, “Clearly I’m in the front of the elevator.” By mocking people who are attempting to understand her positions on policies, she mocks all of us.
Arizona deserves better than a rogue freshman Senator who refuses to be held accountable.
Laura Franklin
Foothills
Protect Medicare Advantage
Aging is an expensive journey which, even at 79, I’m still figuring out. While I’m incredibly lucky to have Social Security benefits, there are still significant financial stresses for a senior on a fixed income. Thanks to Medicare Advantage, undue health insurance costs don’t have to be one of them.
Prices are going up for medications and treatments, so the out-of-pocket cap that comes with my plan has been crucial in ensuring I can access the prescriptions I need without breaking the bank.
But Medicare Advantage is about more than access to affordable health care. The limited costs associated with my plan allow me to pay for other basic necessities in my life, including my home. If Congress cuts funding from this program, Arizona seniors like me will be hurt.
There are 27 million people in this country who depend on Medicare Advantage, including nearly 600,000 Arizonans. It is my sincere hope that you will stand with us and reject harmful cuts to this program.
Jon Stetson Northeast side
