Letters & Opinions

While I was away from the paper for a couple of weeks, several people came up to me at the Destination, my favorite coffee shop where my friends and I meet every morning. They ask why there was nothing written by me for the paper recently. Good question.

Thousands of poor Americans and those with disabilities are missing out on much-needed income benefits during the pandemic. The Social Security Administration recently announced a 22% decrease from January 2020 to January 2021 in the number of people receiving Supplemental Security Income, or SSI, the benefit program available to the very poorest Americans. There are no January stats yet for the number of Americans receiving Social Security disability payments (SSDI), but the annual trend is clearly down, said Kathleen Romig, a senior policy analyst at the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities.

Our communities are facing challenges accessing the COVID-19 vaccine. As a physician and your representative in Congress, I am working day in and day out to secure the vaccines and resources we need to protect our health and end this pandemic as quickly and safely as possible.

Since taking office last month, President Joe Biden has launched an ambitious plan to stem the pandemic in his first 100 days in office.

I just finished reading a piece in the “Editorial & Opinion” page of The Chronicle - read through it twice actually - and just can’t help but comment. I realize by giving my opinion on this hot topic many will disagree with me, but hey, this is America! Free speech should be our password!