Money will boost economy
Even a few Democrats are turning away from the trillions of dollars for the infrastructure bill, not just the Republicans. I don’t get it. Do they not think the money won’t boost the economy with thousands of jobs creating more income, creating tax revenues, allowing people to buy homes, eat out, go to Disneyland, whatever?
The longer we wait, the more expensive it will be, and more difficult, as our bridges and roads deteriorate. Of course, there are many other inclusions in the bill, but all of them will help our fellow citizens and most importantly, our planet!
The money going out will come back ten-fold. Here’s the sad part: Under Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell’s so-called leadership, it doesn’t matter what’s good for the people, for the country; it only matters that the Democrats get nothing done. This is not leadership. I hope senators from his party do the right thing. It’s beyond critical.
Ginia Desmond
Downtown
Failure from the start
The so-called “audit” of votes in Arizona’s largest county was fraught with fraudulent failings from the beginning. A partisan band of Republican legislators commissioned it after three legitimate audits, by duly-appointed professionals, had confirmed President Biden’s victory. It was run by a self-proclaimed Trump-supporter with no experience conducting vote audits, and it operated under shoddy, inconsistent and somewhat secretive rules. Nevertheless, even the Cyber-Ninjas were unable to justify Donald Trump’s lies about losing the election.
Trump’s reaction was to double-down on his lies, as he always does when the lie is exposed, with his Republican puppets now clamoring for even more fraudulent audits. This reminds me of Trump’s “birther” campaign against President Obama, when he falsely accused Obama of not being born in the USA, despite release of Obama’s birth certificate. That was a training session for fascist attacks on truth itself, which have now metastasized into a democracy-threatening epidemic.
Bruce Joffe
South side
Congress, leave Medicare alone
I’ve been living my entire life with an autoimmune disease that has forced me to live more cautiously, especially right now as we are going through an uptick in COVID delta variant cases. Because of my pre-existing condition, when I caught COVID last year, I was faced with difficult decisions such as being intubated under anesthesia to help with my breathing.
I’ve learned to live with my autoimmune disease, and I survived COVID-19.
Knowing the comfort that access to these life-saving medications have brought me, I feel obligated to speak out against Congress’ obsession with repealing a key provision in the Medicare Part D program that protects access to medicines and coverage for our most vulnerable. By allowing the government to try to pinch pennies, we are sacrificing access to the medicines we need the most, for the vulnerable in our community.
I urge our lawmakers in D.C. to stand for Arizonans and stop this attack on our access to life-saving medicines.
Cecilia Duran
Foothills
Medicare negotiations
I’ve lived with Type 1 diabetes for most of my life. While certainly not ideal, I’ve learned how to manage my symptoms through a careful regimen of tests, injections and monitoring.
Given the importance of these medications to me, I cannot in good faith, support what Congress is considering. Congress is trying to institute price controls that could limit the variety of treatment options readily available to me and the other 34.2 million Americans who suffer from diabetes.
Yes, patient out-of-pocket costs are too high, but enforcing government price-fixing policies that will limit access and choice is not the answer. Instead, I encourage our representatives to look at other solutions such as holding insurers accountable for gobbling up rebates or simply capping out-of-pocket costs for our vulnerable patient populations.
On the heels of a pandemic, I can think of no worse time for legislators to choose to sacrifice crucial accessibility in the name of government savings.
Andrew Malki
East side
Congress and Medicare
Earlier this year, I fell ill with COVID-19. While I certainly knew that the disease was serious, I was surprised by how difficult the recovery process was. It took months before I felt OK.
My experience as a COVID-19 patient gave me a newfound appreciation for pharmaceutical innovation and access to medical care. My battle with COVID-19 is why I am opposed to Congress’ attempt to change Medicare. This measure could severely limit innovation, effectively reducing the number of new cures and treatments available to patients.
I speak from firsthand experience when I say that we need scientists and researchers working around the clock to find new cures, treatments and vaccines to combat COVID-19 as well as the next deadly virus or disease that will inevitably come our way.
With new variants evolving all the time, I urge Arizona’s members of Congress to vote against weakening innovation. Trust me, you can’t put a price on health.
Salina Joos
South Tucson
You get what you (don’t) pay for
Whenever I see a letter complaining about infrastructure or government service problems, I want to ask the writer one question:
Have you ever once voted for or supported any person or policy pushing for low taxes?
If the answer is yes, it is time for you to sit down and keep your complaints to yourself because this is what you wanted.
Our current infrastructure is a direct result of 40-plus years of starving the beast. Roads don’t maintain themselves. Litter doesn’t magically end up in a landfill. Basic maintenance must be paid for somehow, and the magical thinking of supply side economics has an incredibly bad record on that front.
We have two options. One, live with the filth and crumbling world in the name of small government. Two, admit that the maintenance fairy doesn’t exist and start paying for decades of neglected upkeep.
David Reynolds
East side
Marana is the real bully
Re: the Sept. 27 article “Marana mayor calls Tucson threat to leave regional transportation group ‘playing bully’”
I beg to differ with Marana Mayor Ed Honea. The city of Tucson isn’t the bully in the room when discussing the Regional Transportation Authority. The small jurisdictions like Marana, Sahuarita and Oro Valley are the bullies with their oversized power on the PAG Regional Council and the RTA Board.
The small jurisdictions have seven of the nine votes, representing less than 15% of the Pima County population. That leaves 85% of the population with just two votes.
The State of Arizona recommends that voting systems apportioned on an equitable geographic population basis. Arlie Adkins, an associate professor of urban planning at the University of Arizona, pointed out in his presentation to the Regional Council that the lack of proportional representation leads to the disenfranchisement of urban residents and people of color.
There’s been a recession, pandemic and an insurrection, so the status quo no longer works. All Tucson Mayor Regina Romero is asking for is fair and equitable representation, but “Of course those that are winning in an inequitable system don’t want to change that system.”
Ruth Reiman
Midtown
Choices matter
My husband was recently told he had blockages in his arteries, including a 90% blockage commonly referred to as the “widow maker.” We had to wait 25 days from the time the cardiologist diagnosed blockages to surgery. We had 25 days to wonder if he would die before his surgery because we couldn’t get scheduled. We were lucky he didn’t have a heart attack and lucky his surgery went well. We also had 25 days to really evaluate the impact extremists in our State Legislature and our governor have had on Arizona’s COVID trajectory.
This didn’t have to happen. Health measures didn’t need to be weaponized. We could have been encouraged to work together to make this all go away. Instead, we had extremists implementing policies designed to appease the Trump base, not to keep people safe. People should matter more than ideology. People shouldn’t have to wonder if they can get essential medical care because of misinformation and arrogance. Change is needed.
Barbara Russo-Sprouls
SaddleBrooke
