Letter to the Editor: Recent thoughts on classified documents, debt ceiling and immigration

Let’s discuss classified documents.

The documents found in the Penn Biden Center and in Mr. Mike Pence’s home were immediately turned over to the National Archives. President Joe Biden then voluntarily had the FBI come into his Wilmington home to check for any further documents. On Wednesday, he voluntarily had them search his Rehoboth Beach home. By contrast, Mr. Donald Trump stonewalled the requests for the return of documents for over a year, precipitating the need for a search warrant. So the question arises as to when will the FBI search Bedminster and Trump Tower? They are hollering about a list of visitors to Biden’s Wilmington home, so what about a list of those who visited Mar-a-Lago and Bedminster?

Onward to the debt ceiling fight. If the U.S. goes into default, Social Security, Medicare, military pay will be in jeopardy, leaving many people with nothing. Wall Street will collapse, and interest rates will return to the Reagan era of 15%. This is not about paying bills going forward. This is about paying debts already incurred. We all want to see a balanced budget, so why wasn’t this done in the last administration? Because the previous president wasn’t interested, and Republicans, who could have easily overridden him, were more interested in keeping their political careers. They are demanding cuts but won’t say in what areas. With people still struggling with prices and the threat to our country from Russia, Iran and China, let’s concentrate on cutting things like the study of the effect of cocaine on pets and do away with the earmarks put back in by Republicans. Right now, they should have a bipartisan committee working on a budget, but they are more interested in revenge.

Are any of you interested in what price Hunter Biden gets for his art? I very much doubt that. Yet, this is one of the first things the House is investigating, while they seat a representative whose entire campaign was lies, and we don’t know but what he may be a plant from a foreign country. They vote to reverse the new funding for the IRS, while you hang on the phone for three hours to get a question answered. New people at the IRS doesn’t mean middle-class people are the targets of audits. It means that those bilking the system will have to pay their share.

How about a law to prohibit foreign countries from buying our farmland and controlling our water? China now owns at least 146,000 acres of American farmland in North Carolina, Missouri, Utah, Virginia, Colorado and Oklahoma. In Texas, a Chinese billionaire owns over 140,000 acres, and the 15,000 acres he bought in 2020 is next door to Laughlin Air Force Base, which is our premier training ground for military pilots. A year later, another Chinese person bought land in Grand Forks, North Dakota, only 12 miles from the Air Force base which houses some of our top intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets. Do you realize that a Chinese company owns Smithfield Foods, the largest pork producer in this country?

Congress needs to act now to confirm the Promoting Agriculture Safeguards and Security Act to prevent these purchases.

Many people are anti-immigration. You obviously don’t realize that immigrants to this country are what are going to keep Social Security and Medicare solvent. Our net migration rate to the U.S. has fallen by an aggregate of 57% since 1998. Meanwhile, our birthrate has fallen precipitously. Most of our immigrants, both legal and illegal, are young working people. They pay into Social Security and Medicare but do not qualify for the benefits. And now, some want to prohibit the people in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program from renewing work permits. And are you aware that many immigrants put their lives on the line for this country in our military? Did you know that an estimated 94,000 of these vets have been deported? That’s a really nice reward for putting your life on the line.

Don’t even get me started on the abortion issue. As more and more red states tell women that their health doesn’t matter, ones like Kansas are even trying to overrule the will of the people. Last year, the people of Kansas overwhelmingly rejected a proposed state constitution amendment that would have said there is no fundamental right to an abortion. Now, the Republicans in the Kansas Legislature are trying to further restrict abortions, regardless of what the people want. There are Republicans in our Congress are pushing for a national ban, putting the lives of millions of women at risk. Many are also trying to stop your right to birth control. Women have fought long and hard to be equal members of society, and now, we must fight to save our lives.

Pay attention to all news sources and check out their sources. Get your noses out of social media and concentrate on the welfare of all people in this country!

Doris W. Draper

Houston