Dear Editor,
I recently listened to a portion of a Senate hearing in which Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash.) was questioning Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. about the millions of dollars in cuts to research for vaccines, cancer and Alzheimer’s disease. In his response, the Secretary said he doesn’t want to make these cuts but is required to due to the country’s enormous debt.
While cuts are being made for research that affects American lives, the President is asking Congress to approve $1.5 trillion for defense spending. Additionally he’s spending millions to tear down parts of the White House in order to build a $400 million dollar ballroom and has plans to build a 250 foot “triumphal arch” near the Lincoln Memorial.
As the President continues to wage wars, cut domestic programs, rename and reshape buildings and destroy our economy, one person who consistently and repeatedly supports, endorses and allows these reckless and irrational actions is our own Third Congressional Representative, Derrick Van Orden. DVO has been a staunch supporter and champion of everything and anything that the President attempts while paying little attention to the real issues that affect his constituents.
He’s refused to hold any type of town hall or public forum where he might be presented with the reality that faces the voters in his district.
We need a representative that will meet face to face with us, listen to us and find real, common sense solutions to the expansive list of problems we face and that have been exacerbated by the Trump presidency. Rebecca Cooke is the candidate who can beat Derrick Van Orden in November and return the focus of our government to the issues facing the American people like affordable and accessible healthcare, a strong economy built for working families and strengthening our education system. Vote for Rebecca Cooke in August and November to restore representation of the people instead of a rubber stamp for Donald Trump.
Donna Swanson
Platteville, WI