Inflation Reduction Act
Throughout U.S. history, we’ve joined across races and classes to ensure our loved ones have what they need to thrive. Unfortunately, Big Pharma prioritizes profits over everyday people. Between 2019 and 2022, many drug companies registered their largest profits in history. To partially counteract this, the Biden Administration passed legislation to make health care more affordable.
One year ago this month, Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act. This bill does many good things, but I’ll focus on one that matters to me: lowering everyday health care costs. The IRA caps monthly insulin costs at $35/month for anyone who gets their insulin through Medicare. That translates to 1.5 million Medicare recipients who will save hundreds of dollars each year. And that’s not all! The Biden Administration’s initiative is inspiring private companies to cap their monthly insulin costs at $35/month too, lowering everyday health care costs for millions more.
Our votes mattered then: the Inflation Reduction Act is the start of what can happen when we work together to make sure all of us, no matter the color of our skin or the content of our wallets, are able to thrive. And they will matter in 2024. Vote for candidates who will push for additional drug price reductions.
—Ronald Patterson
Don’t Let Chavez-DeRemer Fool You
Representative Lori Chavez-DeRemer tries to portray herself as a bipartisan moderate. She’s not.
Did you know that Chavez-DeRemer:
- Is a climate-denying member of the Conservative Climate Caucus who believes that we have “the next couple hundred years” to deal with climate issues? She voted for H.R. 1 which would expand mining and fossil fuel production while repealing important elements of the Biden Administration’s desperately overdue climate legislation.
- Co-sponsored and voted for the so-called “Parents Bill of Rights,” which has been used to ban books and re-write history in states where it has been adopted? She also joined other MAGA House members in voting to overturn Biden’s executive order canceling oppressive student debt even though she and her husband had over $1million in PPP loans forgiven.
- Is a 2A extremist who offers only “thoughts and prayers” when gun massacres happen?
- Voted for the MAGA Defense Bill, which would overturn the Pentagon policy providing time off and paying for a military service member’s travel to obtain an abortion? This policy enables a service member stationed in a state that bans abortions to travel to a state where reproductive health care is available.
- Co-sponsored and voted for the “REINS Act,” a radical MAGA bill to delay or stop regulations for public health and safety, financial reform and worker protection? She even urged the EPA to roll back regulations regarding rat poisons!
These are only a few of the worst mega MAGA stances she’s taken. Don’t be fooled! Chavez-DeRemer is too extreme for CD5!!
—Mary Chaffin
Support Energy Security RE: FERC Off, News, 8/3
Regarding your August 3 story on the FERC decision delay, the argument against new compression facilities in Central Oregon for the existing GTN Xpress gas pipeline is misplaced. Notwithstanding the efforts to move to renewable energy sources, fossil fuels as a source of power generation will have a long tail of production into the future while the transition to renewables occurs. Natural gas as a fuel produces much less greenhouse gas than oil or coal for electrical generation, and consumers will want secure power at a reasonable price as the demand for electrical power in Central Oregon increases. Oregon energy consumers should support maintaining existing energy infrastructure on the path to electrification.
—Dave Norton
RE: BrAIn TrAIn Feature, 7/27
A student who uses AI for a writing assignment is saying “I’m not smart enough to write a good paper, or I don’t have the time to do the research.”
Expressing thoughts in words is a basic skill that all students should develop. Many students have learned awesome technical skills outside of the classroom. But if they communicate primarily in abbreviations and emojis on their phones, they lose sight of how a sentence works. Perhaps they should spend some time in the company of books.
—Denise Holley via bendsource.com
Letter of the Week:
Denise: Couldn’t agree more! Books make great friends and teachers. Thanks for your commentary, and come on by for your gift card to Palate.
—Nicole Vulcan
This article appears in Source Weekly August 10, 2023.
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Mr. Norton misses the point. New FERC compression facilities are not “maintaining existing energy infrastructure” but are actually increasing fossil fuel infrastructure. Further, to “secure power at a reasonable price as the demand for electrical power in Central Oregon increases” is a secondary goal – reducing demand should be the primary goal as that will ensure a reasonable price.