Toward the future
President Biden’s American Jobs Plan shows the type of leadership and initiative to take responsibility our country needs, while creating jobs and tackling the climate crisis simultaneously. From being climate-ambitious during his campaigning, to beginning the implementation of this new plan, the American Jobs Plan will reboost our economy after the pandemic and begin the journey of saving the planet. Being a young woman in Colorado, I care about protecting not only my family and loved ones, but my future children and all wildlife, creatures, and organisms as well, from the potential disaster we are facing.
Transportation, including personal vehicles, busses, trucks, etc. are one of the biggest causes of anthropogenic pollution in the United States. Biden’s plan focuses on clean transportation — especially in Black and Latino neighborhoods and low-income communities in Colorado. By pushing toward a future of cars, trucks and buses with zero emissions or tailpipe pollution, the President is not only protecting the health of millions across the country, but also the future for us all by facing all the challenges and opportunities that come from the changing climate.
We have an opportunity in Colorado to change our planet and the economy for the better. President Biden’s American Jobs Plan will lead us toward the future we all want to see for our children, their children, and seven generations to come!
Alexa Benglen/Boulder
Trump, Fauci and masks
Recently Dr. Anthony Fauci has been criticized for “flip-flopping” last spring on whether or not Americans outside the health-care field should wear masks. Initially he had said “no,” we shouldn’t wear masks and then about 1-2 months later he said we should wear masks. In response to the recent criticism Dr. Fauci has said that his position changed based on the scientific information available on the subject changing. It’s not a bad response and might be part of the truth. But one of the reasons given for discouraging Americans from wearing masks during the very early weeks of the pandemic was that there weren’t enough masks for both people in the medical field and everyone else as well. But that wouldn’t have been an issue if then-President Donald Trump had used the Defense Production Act to make the appropriate companies increase production of masks at the very beginning of the pandemic.
Changing scientific advice when the data changes is a good idea. But I really think that Trump’s reluctance to tell businesses what to do is why many people like Dr. Fauci initially discouraged mask wearing by people outside the medical field. Who knows how many lives would have been saved if the Trump administration had used the DPA to get more masks and had then encouraged all Americans to wear them in those early weeks.
And since Trump and his supporters like to accuse Dr. Fauci of flip-flopping, what about Trump’s enthusiastic endorsement of hydroxychloroquine? Dr. Fauci publicly disagreed with Trump on that from the very beginning, and when Trump got COVID-19 he (Trump) was treated with everything BUT hydroxychloroquine. Obviously Trump finally accepted that he was wrong about that, after promoting it like crazy for several months.
Tom Shelley/Boulder
Speak up for families
Exciting news for families working hard to give their kids the basics and better futures. (Re: “The Child Tax Credit: income for your family,” July 8.) Thank you, Senator Bennet for your tenacious work on making this Child Tax Credit happen, benefiting 96 out of every 100 Colorado families and families across America. Of course this is temporary, but Senator Bennet and others are working to make it permanent. We can help by thanking Senator Bennet and telling him stories of how this changes things for the better in your family, and asking Senator Gardner to join in this effort, along with your representative. Any member of Congress can be reached at 202-224-3121. Speaking up now can help millions of families continue to have better lives.
Willie Dikerson/internet
The filibuster is a Jim Crow relic
There’s so much being written about the filibuster these days, but in all the articles I read I feel like this important point gets lost: The filibuster isn’t mentioned in our Constitution. Not even one time.
Despite what some in the Senate might imply, the filibuster is just a procedural measure that can be changed at any point, like when Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump put Amy Coney Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court.
That’s why it’s so ridiculous that the filibuster still stands in the way of almost every single progressive priority on Democrats’ docket. The Biden-Harris administration clearly has their eye on passing necessary reforms, like comprehensive climate legislation and raising the minimum wage, but the threat of the filibuster continues to throw the future of their legislative agenda into question.
Luckily it doesn’t have to be this way. I’m putting my faith in the Senate to get rid of the filibuster as soon as possible. We can’t let a minority of senators continue to block the progress a majority of Americans voted for.
Sabrina Wilsdon/Boulder
