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Let court decide on vaccine mandate

The 5th U.S. Court of Appeals put a hold on the federal government’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate ordering businesses with over 100 employees to have them vaccinated, or get weekly testing. The mandate was to take effect Jan. 4, but the appeals court paused the rule, saying it raised “grave statutory and constitutional issues.” The government argued on Monday why the stay shouldn’t be made permanent. The government claims it is “a matter of life and death,” that delaying vaccination mandate will lead to thousands more people getting sick or dying of COVID. That may be ...

Hope for moderates?

Politics in America has become so polarized in recent years that one wonders if there an effective bipartisan government is going the way of the passenger train and 25-cent a gallon gasoline. Can we have a government where representatives debate, listen to each other, come up with compromises, or are we fated to have more of what we have today, where politicians get elected by appealing to the most radical wings of their parties, where moderate members who don’t toe the party’s new line are jettisoned? It is true for both Democrats and Republicans. Donald Trump holds such ...

Drug price deal important for seniors

As the Democrats in Congress worked on the final draft of the $1.75 trillion domestic policy bill, one of the parts that fell by the wayside was legislation to lower the cost of prescription drugs. Fortunately, a deal announced Tuesday brings it back into the bill, smaller perhaps than before, but still an important win for the nation’s seniors . According to Sen. Chuck Schumer, for the first time Medicare will be able to negotiate prescription drug prices in its Part B and Part D programs. There is also a $2,000 cap on out-of-pocket costs for those older Americans with the Part D ...

Stop holding infrastructure measure hostage

While speaking to members of the Minnesota Legislature in Marshall last month, Tyler Mayor Joan Jagt recalled the day four years ago when she discovered a geyser of sewage in her basement. The sewage backups in her basement continued to happen four times in one month. The cause of those backups: an undersized sewer system in Tyler. Jagt was making a plea for help in the form of a $7.29 million bonding request from the Legislature. Members of the House Capital Investment Committee stopped in Marshall to hold a hearing on bonding requests from Marshall and surrounding communities. An ...

Another ‘last, best hope’ for climate

The U.N. climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, opened Sunday, billed as a “last, best hope” for putting a dint in the climate change that is happening around the globe. For the next two weeks, representatives from 200 countries around the world will try to hammer out agreements and goals for reducing the amount of greenhouse gases the world is producing. Countries will be laying out their plans for reducing the burning of coal, gas and oil, and dealing with the impact of climate change. Unfortunately, some of the major producers of greenhouse gases are not planning to fully ...

Whittling away at the plan

President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better plan is being whittled away. Biden announced a breakthrough agreement on Thursday before heading off to summits in Europe, but there are still a lot of details to be worked out and deals to be made before a vote is taken. The former $3.5 trillion plan is now down to $1.75 trillion — turning it into perhaps a Build Back Better than Nothing bill. Progressive members of the House are upset at the loss of some of their top priorities — paid family leave and efforts to lower prescription drug prices, for example, are gone from the bill. But ...