You and I are probably comfortable in our homes, with a well-stocked refrigerator. Not so for more than 1 in 5 kids here in the U.S. For Black kids, it's more than 1 in 4! And the COVID-19 pandemic only made child poverty worse. Did you know that one prominent estimate suggests that child poverty costs the U.S. about $1 trillion annually in reduced adult productivity, increased crime and higher health costs?
Read moreRenters should be part of the economic recovery plans
Alan Newberg, Bremerton
Kitsap Sun
Washingtonians were facing an affordable housing crisis even before the pandemic, with high rates of homelessness visible in nearly part of the state. Rocketing housing prices are now making affordable housing, especially rentals even more scarce. Tenants owe billions in back rent. Landlords cannot meet their financial obligations when no rent is coming in. These problems face all Americans across the nation. Thousands are getting evicted and are at risk of homelessness because they can't pay the rent. Eviction moratoriums have been overturned in court. Presently, here and nationwide, federal rental assistance only goes to one in four eligible renters due to inadequate funding.
President Biden has proposed building affordable housing in the U.S., but Congress must do more by expanding rental assistance to all eligible renters so millions of families can keep a roof over their head. Housing Choice Vouchers, America's largest rental assistance program, allow low-income renters to find safe housing they otherwise cannot afford. Families with stable housing earn higher wages and have better health and education outcomes. It is cheaper and more aesthetic than having them plague our parks, sidewalks and backwoods with tents and debris.
Please join me and urge our Senators, Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, and Representative Derek Kilmer to expand rental assistance to all eligible renters in economic recovery legislation this year.
We pay our share, maybe ultra wealthy should as well
Donna Munro, Bremerton
Kitsap Sun
Regarding the Sun's March 14 editorial cartoon, showing a caricature of President Biden slyly lifting a woman's purse while she beams and comments, "Who's going to pay for this wonderful Covid $1400 check?" — Yes, most of us will pay for it! The same way we continue to pay for welfare to the very rich. But there's a difference.
With the expansion of the Child Tax Credit in President Biden's American Rescue Plan, 27 million kids will be helped and child poverty in the U.S. will be cut in half. This will benefit our entire society.
Moody's Analytics estimates that for every $1 spent on state and local government safety net services, the local economy grows by $1.39. That's an immediate return on the dollar. For instance, for every dollar spent on SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), the local economy grows by $1.64. For every dollar spent on Earned Income Tax Credit, the local economy is enhanced by $1.23. That's because people in need spend the money.
The richest one-tenth of 1% in our rich country owns about as much wealth as the bottom 90%, in large part because of tax loopholes. America's bottom half pays an annual tax on over half of its wealth. But the top 1% pay no annual tax on almost 90% of its wealth. We need a fair wealth tax.
Donna Munro, Bremerton
A good start to solving poverty in America
Diana Tyree-Eddy, Hansville
Kitsap Sun
I am relieved that Congress has passed a new COVID relief bill that will provide relief to renters, increase the EITC for low-wage workers, and, astoundingly, cut child poverty by 45 percent by expanding the Child Tax Credit.
It's now time for Congress to build on these successes by fixing vast inequities in housing and lifting more children out of poverty. First, make Housing Choice Vouchers universal to all who qualify; currently, only 1 in 4 eligible renters get federal housing assistance. Next, protect workers and families by making the new EITC and CTC provisions permanent. Columbia University researchers estimate these combined changes could reduce child poverty in America by almost two-thirds.
We have the chance to make a generational leap in reducing poverty in America. I urge our members of Congress to take bold action to permanently and dramatically reduce child poverty and housing instability in recovery legislation this year.
Diana Tyree-Eddy, Hansville
Child Tax Credit would greatly help those in poverty
Alan Newberg, Bremerton
Kitsap Sun
I would like to thank the Kitsap Sun for the article in the Sunday, Feb. 14 edition discussing the proposed changes in the Child Tax Credit in the Biden Covid-19 relief plan.
The Child Tax credit and its companion the Earned Income Tax Credit have earned the respect among advocates seeking to alleviate poverty as two of the most effective programs in America. Some form of these programs have been in effect for more than 24 years and been instrumental for lifting five and one half million children out of poverty. Even so, studies show that nearly one-third of children in low income families have been left out or disqualified.
Incredibly, one primary reason is that their families earn too little to qualify under the existing rules. Notably, a disproportionate number of the families affected by these limitations are people of color.
The new legislation will go a long way toward righting the inequities of our tax system that affect people living in poverty. Effectively, enacting the Biden plan would nearly halve the child poverty rate in the U.S. I urge all members of Congress (and their constituents) to support this plan with their votes. No investment in our taxes is more important than supporting children.
Alan Newberg, Bremerton
Science moves to the Cabinet
Bill Budd, Port Orchard
Kitsap Sun
President Joe Biden is elevating the Presidential Science Advisor position to cabinet level. He has picked Dr. Eric Lander, President of the Broad Institute, for this position.
I am very excited by this elevation of a biological scientist to top level decision making. The pandemic has shown how important the biological sciences can be for the physical and economic health of our county.
The Obama-Biden administration began the BRAIN Initiative which is projected to continue through Biden’s presidential term. The advances in basic brain science have been enormous and are continuing and should help us find the molecular basis of and new treatments for many brain disorders. The majority of our country’s basic health research is funded through the National Institute for Health.
Congress should invest in biological sciences because that new knowledge will bring a better quality of life for all Americans and for all humanity. It is the right thing to do and something our Congress can, in a bipartisan manner, support not just in the time of the pandemic but on an ongoing basis.
Bill Budd, Port Orchard
https://www.kitsapsun.com/story/opinion/readers/2021/01/23/science-moves-cabinet/6687997002/
The people still have a voice in Congress
Beth Wilson, Olalla
Kitsap Sun
Last week, as I watched images of angry citizens storm our Capitol Building, I was horrified and saddened. The Capitol plaza and eastern stairway where the mob gathered and invaded the heart of our democracy are places I have been almost every year for the last 13 years.
I was saddened because those rioting have lost faith in their political power; they felt that their only recourse was violence and hate. They are wrong in so many ways.
For 13 years I have been a volunteer with RESULTS, a national organization that trains and supports citizens to petition our government to bring an end to poverty in the U.S. and worldwide. Through RESULTS I have learned that my voice, used strategically and respectfully, is powerful; much more powerful than those in the angry mob.
Our Senators and our Representative, Derek Kilmer, are good listeners when we bring our concerns based on facts, clearly stated needs and mutual regard for the good intent of each other. We have enormous power as citizens of this great nation, if we are willing to work together, to have positive regard for our elected officials and to operate on the basis of truth.
RESULTS volunteers are advocating for stronger supports for people who have been impacted by the pandemic and the resulting economic devastation and for investments in global health to save millions of lives and to protect our own nation from global disease.
Beth Wilson, Olalla
https://www.kitsapsun.com/story/opinion/readers/2021/01/15/people-still-have-voice-congress/4176592001/
Relief bill matters to all of us
Beth Wilson, Olalla
Kitsap Sun
December 1 was International AIDS Day. AIDS has been with us since 1981, almost 40 years. In that time nearly 675,000 Americans have died of AIDS. Today almost 1 million people around the world died each year from AIDS. The COVID-19 pandemic is increasing these deaths because access to diagnosis and treatment for AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and vaccinations for many childhood diseases has been horribly impacted by the pandemic.
This week we learned that a new bipartisan COVID-19 bill has been crafted by U.S. members of Congress to bring emergency relief to Americans impacted by the pandemic. I call upon Senator Patty Murray, Senator Maria Cantwell and Representative Derek Kilmer to support that bill and to work hard to get it passed ASAP. Millions of lives depend upon them.
Further, I urge those leaders to ensure that the bill includes $100 billion for rental assistance, $20 billion for a global health response for the pandemic, a 15% increase in SNAP (food stamps) and an eviction moratorium. Those are the resources that we in the U.S. and folks around the world need to survive the impacts of this pandemic.
Please call your Members of Congress and let them know how important this COVID-19 relief bill is to everyone.
Beth Wilson, Olalla
Landlords can help with rental assistance as well
Alan Newberg, Bremerton
Kitsap Sun
I wish to follow up on Karen Leader Scott’s excellent letter regarding the urgent need for Congress to address the economic hardships caused by the COVID-19 health pandemic.
Her letter mentions rental assistance. It happens that I own three single-family rentals and as a consequence can speak personally for the need for rental assistance. Such assistance is fundamental to keeping renters impacted from loss of income and employment from becoming homeless occupants of our streets, alleys and byways. Rental assistance keeps people in their homes, reduces social services spending and provides the stream of income landlords need to stay in business. Rules constraining landlords from evicting people unable to pay rent, while perhaps necessary in the initial phases of the epidemic, are not sustainable and threaten to drive down the supply of affordable housing.
The lack of affordable housing is at the core of the homeless problem in this country and all it associated problems. Now is the time to address this problem before moneyed investors buy up the supply. If you are a landlord, consider accepting tenants with rental assistance vouchers.
In conclusion, I agree with Karen that Derick Kilmer and Senators Murray and Cantwell have been leaders in seeking to address these issues as have most members of Washington’s delegation and I thank them for seeking bipartisan support their work. Hope you do too.
Alan Newberg, Bremerton
Empowerment means listening to people, not money
I spotted the enchanting piece, "How regular people can solve America’s problems," by Charles Koch and Brian Hooks recently on the Sun's opinion page. "Empower every person to contribute in their own way" they affirm.
This is the same Charles Koch (along with his late brother) who befitted spectacularly from 2010's Citizens United ruling which allowed them to flood our political system with dark money to fight campaign finance reform and other democratic processes.
The Koch brothers spent $40 million to back and promote Trump's 2017 tax cuts. Because of these tax cuts and loopholes orchestrated by moneyed interests, by 2018 the bottom 10% of Americans paid a higher tax rate (26%) than the 400 richest Americans. We can take Koch's and Hooks advice: contribute our efforts to make a difference.
The winners of Georgia's Senate seat runoffs in Jan. 2021 can decide which party controls the U.S. Senate for Joe Biden's Presidential term. The Republican Senate blocked many of Obama's efforts to lead our nation responsibly. We must allow President-Elect Joe Biden to be able to do his job.
In Georgia, Reverend Raphael Warnock is facing off against Republican incumbent Senator Kelly Loeffler. And Jon Ossoff is challenging Republican Senator David Perdue. If Warnock and Ossoff win, we, the people, can be represented by the U.S. Senate, not moneyed interests as has been the case.
I am encouraging people in Georgia to vote in their January run-off Senate election. You can, too. Go to votefwd.org for info on other ways to help.
Donna Munro, Bremerton
Read moreSenate needs to approve COVID relief plan
Judy Arbogast, Olalla
Groups and individuals across the nation are demanding action of the Senate. We are fortunate to have Senator Maria Cantwell and Senator Patty Murray who agree. Taking care of citizens should not be a partisan issue. Since May a House Bill has been sent to the Senate, which Sen. Mitch McConnell has ignored.
The House bill(s) that have been waiting since May, 2020 include:
The $50 billion in funding the child care industry.
$100 billion in emergency rental assistance to prevent a wave of evictions and homelessness.
Increased funding for food assistance through SNAP (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program).
At least $1 trillion in new funding for state and local government, who are prohibited from running deficits.
Restoring the expanded Unemployment Insurance benefits [expired at the end of July];
I urge any readers with friends/relatives in states with GOP Senators to share this information with those Senators to finally over-ride Sen. McConnell and get assistance to those whose lives have been so devastated by COVID this year.
Judy Arbogast, Olalla
Read moreWe must take care of the needy now
Karen Leader Scott, Bremerton
Kitsap Sun
The economic hardship caused by the COVID 19 pandemic continues. According to the census data collected October 14 to November 9, over 24 million adults reported that their household sometimes or often didn't have enough to eat in the last 7 days. This represents 11 percent of all adults in this country. Nearly 12 million adults living with children reported that children were not eating enough because they could not afford enough food. This represents 14% of adults living with children. Ability to pay rents and mortgages is also challenged by pandemic related reduced income.
Our Congress needs to address these concerns sooner rather than later. Some of the previously enacted COVID relief measures expire in December, 2020.
Increasing SNAP (food stamp) funding, providing more rental assistance and extending and increasing unemployment benefits would all be a necessary help.
Our federal elected officials, Congressman Kilmer, Senator Murray and Senator Cantwell have all been supporters of increased COVID relief funding. We need to let them know that we support their efforts.
Encouraging our friends and families who live in other states to contact their elected representatives to support COVID relief funding would also be helpful.
Can we tolerate any of our children going hungry? Let us take action to prevent hunger in our community and country.
Karen Leader Scott, Bremerton
https://www.kitsapsun.com/story/opinion/readers/2020/11/20/we-must-take-care-needy-now/6368566002/
Healing Should be the focus of Chiefstick's story
Jo Walter, Bremerton
Kitsap Sun
In the photo accompanying an article published Oct. 24 in the Sun, "Family of man shot by police wants healing monument in Poulsbo," I saw the smiling faces of Stonechild Chiefstick's three grieving children, and thought "How wonderful!"
How wonderful that these young people are channeling their grief into a project that can bring something positive to the community, and to themselves. They have struggled with so many disappointments, and waited for more than a year while one system of justice after another failed to bring justice for their father. They live with the knowledge that the perpetrator of their father's homicide has been returned to work on the streets of Poulsbo. I wouldn't blame them if their response was to tear down those systems that allowed their father to be taken from them without consequence.
Looking at people as more than a label
Jill Clarride, Bremerton
Kitsap Sun
An important part of democracy is for everyone to take responsibility for their vote, to own their decisions. This has not always been the case.
For example, in this country, citizens and politicians now deny or downplay their support for the Iraq and Vietnam wars. In the 1930s we find masses of Germans jubilantly supporting inhuman treatment of Jews, but after the war no one in these crowds of thousands, millions were to be found.
So now, for the sake of honesty and learning from history, people who are committed to a cause should consider tattooing an indication of their beliefs on their shoulder. It would work like this: a pacificist, a climate change denier, an environmentalist, a racist, an anti-vaxxer, a person who is pro-choice or thinks the Covid -19 pandemic is a hoax would proudly tattoo P, CCD, E, R, AV, PC, CH respectively. And of course, for the upcoming election, a B for Biden, a T for Trump or whatever. Ten, 30 or 50 years from now, looking down at your shoulder might give pause and provide a time for reflection and even adjustment of the way one thinks.
And think how much it would help with your obituary.
Jill Clarridge, Bremerton
We can't give up on the fight against global poverty
Beth Wilson, Olalla
Kitsap Sun September 4, 2020
Congress has adjourned without taking the step needed to help the people of the U.S. and the world handle the Covid-19 pandemic. This is unconscionable!
Worldwide people are at risk of health disasters due to the impacts of the Corona Virus. Millions of HIV/AIDs survivors and TB patients cannot get the medicines that keep them alive due to breakdowns in the production and distribution of those medicines. TB is not being diagnosed because the diagnostic equipment has been repurposed for Covid testing. Malaria bed nets cannot be distributed now because of the disruptions of Covid.
Millions of children are not receiving the vaccines they need to survive childhood.
Children are not in school, distant or not. Hunger and malnutrition will likely double over 2020 and 2021. Children will suffer malnutrition and wasting that will impact them their entire lives.
The U.S. should provide $20 billion to address the global impact of Covid-19. That’s a mere one tenth of one percent of the compromise $2 trillion dollars that the Democrats put on the table over a month ago. Surely our nation can spare one tenth of one percent for the rest of the world, especially the children.
Come back to work, Congress! Do your job! Help the American people and our economy survive the pandemic. And make sure that globally, children and populations have what they need to simply survive.
I urge everyone to let their Members of Congress know how important a comprehensive Covid Emergency bill is – for everyone! Beth Wilson, Olalla
Washington's vote-by-mail is a model for others to follow
Barbara Golden, Bainbridge Island
Kitsap Sun September 2, 2020
Like many other retirees, my husband and I moved to Washington State to be near our grandchildren. However, we quickly discovered the many other benefits of leaving our home state of Wisconsin behind and embracing our new home wholeheartedly.
We love and support the ability to vote by mail. When we get the ballot booklet, we take the time to discuss our choices with each other, to confer with trusted long-time residents, and to investigate the issues. Then we get our ballots. After filling them out, we drop them off at the post office or at one of the many ballot boxes.
For us, who had to stand in line in Wisconsin’s mostly inclement weather, often in the dark, this is more than convenient.
Voting by mail is not just a convenience for us elders, it is a voter-friendly method of encouraging more civic participation. Voting gives more of us a voice in choosing who represents us. As our country experiences more flux, the pandemic and the civil rights movement demand wider participation by all of us.
https://www.kitsapsun.com/story/opinion/readers/2020/09/02/washingtons-vote-mail-model/5693436002/
Also on guard against tuberculosis
Marty Bishop, Port Orchard
Kitsap Sun August 17, 2020
”‘The Biggest Monster’ Is Spreading. And It’s Not the Coronavirus.”
Tuberculosis kills 1.5 million people each year. Lockdowns and supply-chain disruptions threaten progress against the disease as well as H.I.V. and malaria.
The above headline in a recent New York Times article goes on to explain the devastating effects the pandemic has wreaked on low income countries. I encourage you to read it.
To prevent this from happening the United States needs to supply emergency aid. We cannot fail to help our neighbors who are suffering from lack of medical care and adequate nutrition. Please urge our members of Congress to include funding for the global response to the pandemic in their next stimulus bill. Soon!
Marty Bishop, Port Orchard
Moratorium on Evictions Still Needed
Diana Tyree-Eddy, Hansville
Kitsap Sun August 09, 2020
It was heartening to read that Kitsap County designated more federal relief funding for housing assistance at the end of July. Sadly, such help isn't available everywhere. Across the country, millions of low-income renters are under threat of eviction and homelessness. COVID-19 has cost more 40 million Americans their jobs. When people cannot work, they cannot pay the rent. Local and national eviction bans are expiring, putting over 20 million low-income renters at risk of losing their homes in the middle of pandemic. The House has passed legislation that would provide $100 billion in emergency rental assistance and enact a national moratorium on evictions. This will help renters stay housed and landlords get paid until the economy improves. But Senate leaders and the White House are standing in the way.
It's time for Congress and the White House officials to stand up and do the job they were elected to do -- protect the American people. When we are in the middle of a pandemic, housing is healthcare. We need to reach out to the Senate and the president to quickly enact COVID-19 bill that includes emergency rental assistance and a national moratorium on evictions.
Diana Tyree-Eddy, Hansville
https://www.kitsapsun.com/story/opinion/readers/2020/08/09/moratorium-evictions-still-needed/3331164001/
Examining my own life after learning more history
Pam McPeek, Silverdale
Kitsap Sun July 30, 2020
I'm writing concerning the powerful column published in the Sunday, July 19 Kitsap Sun, "History's comment on how Black lives matter," by Jan Kragen, a history teacher in North Kitsap.
In reading the piece, I was enormously impressed by the extent and depth of her knowledge of events and factors related to the United States' long and still ongoing history of racism. There were many things she recounted that I simply did not know -- things I was never taught in school and haven't learned on my own. I am white, and I have never believed myself to be a racist, but to have all of this information brought together and presented, factually and unemotionally, in such a compressed manner made me realize in a way I never have before the meaning and extent of "white privilege" and the degree to which I am its beneficiary.
I'm not sure at this point what I will do with it all, but awareness precedes considered action, and I now know and understand things that I had not before reading Ms. Kragen's column. I am very grateful for her caring and compassionate efforts to make this history known in such detail, and I hope others, perhaps affected as I was, are also wrestling with the question of how to turn this knowledge into meaningful and productive action. Quoting Ms. Kragen's final paragraph, "Obviously, all lives matter. The point is, black lives haven't. It's past time to make sure they do." Yes, it is.
Pam McPeek, Silverdale
Finding Context Through the Lens of History
Jill Clarridge, Bremerton
Kitsap Sun July 16, 2020
Last night I was reading the recent (2018) biography of Frederick Douglass, ''Prophet of Freedom,'' by D. Blight. In 1870, Douglass, who was well-known because of his best-selling autobiographies, his numerous speaking engagements and his important contributions towards ending slavery, spoke clearly about the same issues that confront us today in our efforts to correct injustice.
He recognized and publicized the denying of rights specified in the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments to the constitution to formerly enslaved people and people of color by the majority of the white ruling class.
He especially called-out the lie that became a myth that the confederacy had never fought to preserve slavery but had fought for state sovereignty and homeland. They didn’t! He spoke with disgust of the increasing veneration of the Confederate military and the laments over the lost gracious way of life. He wrote “The South has a past not to be contemplated with pleasure but with a shudder. She has been selling agony, trading in blood and the souls of men”. In this light, it is easy to understand why certain statues and base names that glorify that past are offensive.
One hundred and fifty years later, instead of recognizing the actual history of slavery, the myths that Douglass spoke about have grown and are shared by some as a reality.
What harmony we might achieve if we could agree on the same set of truths and facts!
Jill Clarridge, Bremerton
Read on Kitsap Sun