Manchin voting on W.Va. youths’ future
As a West Virginia resident and person who has family in West Virginia, I unfortunately will have to leave the state unless Sen. Manchin votes for budget reconciliation.
One of West Virginia’s largest issues is that young people like myself are leaving the state after college because they are unable to find good jobs here, especially jobs that have our future in mind.
Budget reconciliation has become a ray of hope for us youth to remain in West Virginia. Even West Virginia University president, Dr. Gordon Gee, is concerned, saying “I’ve joked about the fact that I want to build a wall around West Virginia and keep all the kids here.” The budget reconciliation bill focuses on the specific energy policies that not only bring jobs to the youth of West Virginia, but also holds the potential to reinvent the economy, lead by example in clean energy and, most importantly, keep families together. That is why it is being called the American Families Plan.
The bipartisan infrastructure bill addresses roads and bridges but does not do enough to produce the jobs and the economic vitality we need in West Virginia. The manufacturing and deployment of energy efficiency and clean energies that will result from the budget reconciliation passage is what we need.
West Virginia is my home, and I want to stay here with my family but, frankly, I just don’t see how the youth have a future in West Virginia without its evolution toward clean energy priorities. Time and time again, I’ve heard comments from my peers like “We have a beautiful state, and we need to keep it healthy for future generations … but, I just can’t find a way to stay here.”
Sen. Manchin, your vote is pivotal. We are counting on you to support the budget reconciliation bill so we can have a future in West Virginia.
Mason Witzler
Morgantown
ARPA didn’t ‘take care of’ home-based services
I’ve been closely following The Dominion Post’s coverage of efforts in Washington to invest in both physical and human infrastructure. I’m growing increasingly concerned that an important provision of that legislation — a significant investment in Medicaid Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) — might be derailed by Sen. Joe Manchin.
I live in Morgantown and am the executive director of Valley Community Services, a Medicaid-funded nonprofit that supports people with intellectual and developmental disabilities to be included in the community.
In my line of work, we’ve been experiencing substantial shortages of direct support professionals (DSP) for decades — a challenge that has been amplified significantly by the pandemic. Turnover rates among DSPs hover near 50% nationally, in part because these highly skilled workers, whose wages are determined by states’ Medicaid reimbursement rates, earn only $12 per hour at the median.
Although I’m grateful that the American Rescue Plan offered a temporary investment in HCBS, it’s alarming that Sen. Manchin thinks investment “took care of” the problem. Many West Virginia DSPs now earn less than the starting wage in convenience stores, making it impossible for organizations like mine to compete for workers.
How can I ask DSPs to act as cooks, medication administrators, counselors, transportation coordinators, job coaches and more — all while working in people’s homes where social distancing is impossible — when they could earn more money and better benefits at Sheetz?
If Sen. Manchin wants to do right by West Virginians with disabilities, it’s imperative that he supports provisions in the Build Back Better Act that would invest significantly in Medicaid HCBS. Failure to do so would leave community services worse off than they already were before the pandemic, while the lives of some of our most vulnerable neighbors hang in the balance.
George N. Janes
Morgantown
Time for Gov. Justice to mandate masks, vaccines
So, the governor doesn’t know what else he can do but beg people to get vaccinated.
I will give him some free advice.
Impose mandatory indoor masking in public access buildings and mandatory outdoor masking at sporting events. Then, he can order people to be vaccinated.
In 1904, the governor of Massachusetts ordered a statewide vaccination for smallpox. He was sued and the case reached the Supreme Court, which ruled that in order to protect the safety of the general population, the governor could indeed order the citizens of Massachusetts to be vaccinated.
David Yelton
Morgantown
West Virginia needs Build Back Better Act
Before COVID-19 came along, I had a reasonably comfortable life. I had a full-time position as a medical secretary in the biggest hospital in Morgantown, the town where I was born and raised. I lived paycheck to paycheck, but I had no real worries. But then, the pandemic hit.
My hours at the hospital were cut back to three days a week. To keep my head above water, I had to take on work as a house cleaner. Now, I work every day of the week. I’m 51, and this non-stop work is stealing life from me. But I have to do it — I have bills to pay.
If you’re working around the clock like me and getting no raises, it’s a losing battle against the ever-rising cost of living. Without the chance for a raise, we’re constantly circling down a sinking hole, going down deeper and deeper. If any little thing goes wrong, you could lose it all.
I voted for Donald Trump last year, but it doesn’t really matter to me who is running the government. They need to respond to our basic needs. And they have a chance to do so now, if they would only stop playing politics.
The big bills everyone is talking about in Washington would create lots of local care and infrastructure jobs and give people who are ready to work a chance to do so. They would also make community college affordable for my 17-year-old daughter, who couldn’t afford college otherwise, and help contain utility costs, housing costs and health care costs. All of these improvements would be paid for by asking the wealthiest among us to pay a little more in taxes, something which sounds fair to me.
I believe that Sen. Joe Manchin and the rest of West Virginia’s Congressional delegation would like to do what’s right for our state. On behalf of the working people of West Virginia, I urge our state’s members of Congress to come to our aid and adopt these measures. West Virginia needs you.
Letha Bowers
Morgantown
Man vs. microbe: Microbe is winning
West Virginia rose as the vaccine model-state nationally and internationally, and state leaders were pioneers at the start, only to slide to lower ranks in terms of numbers.
What happened? A group standing as vaccine resistors — whatever their reasons may be.
All we need to understand is that we must adopt our best defense in fighting this virus. Individual, family, community, business and religious leadership coalesce in convincing each other, so the numbers reach almost herd immunity. Otherwise, we are losers to this virus.
We have a common goal. When it comes to who wins, man or microbe, it’s certainly the microbe at the moment. Let’s decide that is not going to happen.
Syamala Jagannathan
Morgantown
Manchin, Capito only represent own interests
Emails urge me to tell senators what I want. But I’ve done it, and their offices send boilerplate letters rejecting my requests. It’s a waste of time trying to convince any Republican such as Sen. Shelley Moore Capito to do anything.
She responds by insulting Democrats. Hey, I’m a Democrat — maybe more of an independent — but whatever my stance, that is a juvenile response. And she doesn’t have to care what I think, anyway; she’s a millionaire. Why is she even working for a living? Oh, not really working.
Sen. Joe Manchin has a chance to change history in a most positive way and he has to be aware of it; he can’t be that obtuse. I always liked him so much, and now he is having such a good time being a DINO [Democrat in name only] and jerking our hard-won Democratic administration around, and apparently being afraid to jump on board and take us all with him to a better future.
It won’t affect me too much, but I worry about the kids. Joe is like Shelley, and he doesn’t need to worry about being elected for anything again or paying the bills. He’s a multi-millionaire, and if he gets down on his luck, his daughter Heather, who got $30-some million from the elimination of Mylan in Morgantown, can give him a handout.
Few of those people in our government who are fighting against the big Democrat plan to boost infrastructure and the economy and help the little guy can see past their own selfish interests and greed to the reality of us, out here, out of the charmed circle, living payday to payday, if we’re lucky, and going deeper in the hole if we’re not lucky.
They are not serving us; they are part of our worst nightmare. It doesn’t seem to do much good to wake up. They’re still around when the sun rises. And it doesn’t help that so many of us are still asleep.
Betty L. Wiley
Westover
A divided nation makes for ‘interesting times’
The Chinese curse “May you live in interesting times” certainly applies to the period the U.S. is experiencing now.
The country is divided on several levels … political, of course, but also in trust of science, and what constitutes the truth. The divide over how to deal with the pandemic is equally serious. As this year began, many people wisely wore masks, kept distance and got vaccinated, and it appeared that we would get back to normal by summer. But it was not to be, as a viral variant took hold in people who refused to vaccinate or wear masks.
Under the guise of personal freedom, they refused to listen to advice from medical leaders and refused the vaccine. This irrational behavior has led to the surge of the Delta variant, making the U.S. one of the hot spots worldwide with 150,000 new cases each day and one in 500 citizens dying from COVID.
Here in West Virginia, our governor and health experts have done their best to combat the virus, but our attorney general recently joined with 23 other AGs to oppose President Biden’s vaccine mandate.
They claim that it will only further divide the country and increase unemployment. One example they cite is the potential loss of health care workers if they are required to vaccinate or lose their jobs. It is hard to believe that people who see patients suffering and dying from COVID would refuse to be vaccinated. They put themselves, their families and their patients in danger by this refusal.
The president is trying to stop the spread of COVID and get us back to normal. He needs the support of citizens and elected officials, not opposition.
In my youth, there was the scourge of polio. With the widespread acceptance of vaccines, we successfully overcame this disease. We need to pull together now as a nation to overcome the COVID pandemic.
Get vaccinated and wear masks in indoor venues until the number of new cases falls to low numbers. It’s that simple.
Larry Harris
Morgantown
