Student loans, the national debt and Republican culture war among Herald letters | Opinion

Should paying off loans net payoff?

Before July 20, 1969, when we put a man on the moon we had computer chips, computers, nuclear power plants, and nuclear subs. The Department of Education was established on October 17, 1979.

Other than creating regulations for our public schools, what has it done for our teachers and students?

Drug dealers previously provided drugs to people to get them addicted so they have customers to purchase more drugs from them for profit. In 2022, 110,236 deaths have been attributed to fentanyl. Is fentanyl being smuggled into our country for addiction and profit or to kill our citizens? Enough fentanyl has been smuggled into our country that it could kill every citizen in the United States.

If President Biden gets his $400 billion bribe approved for current college students, should those past college students who paid for their student loans propose a class action suit to be paid for their loans? Should all those blue collar workers who had loans used to get training in their skills join in the suit?

What do you think?

Don Curet, Richland

GOP spends lots, won’t add revenue

Rep. Dan Newhouse in a recent email voiced concern about wasteful government spending over the past two years that has raised the national debt to over $31 trillion. The mounting debt is the result of decades of spending without increasing revenue.

In response to the attack of Sept. 11, President George W. Bush mobilized for the war in Iraq and Afghanistan and did not raise taxes or issue war bonds. President Obama inherited these conflicts and the spending. The war on terror is estimated to have added just under $6 trillion to the national debt. Tax cuts signed by President Bush 2001 and 2003 reduced revenue. In 2018, a round of tax cuts by President Trump did not include cuts in spending to offset the cost.

Two of the biggest drivers of the deficit were the downturn caused by the financial crisis of 2008 and the 2020 pandemic. In response to COVID-19, Mr. Trump approved a collection of aid packages costing $3 trillion and Mr. Biden $1.9 trillion.

Republicans are demanding cuts in spending but are against increased funding of the IRS, voted against by Newhouse, which would provide the expertise necessary for auditing the wealthy, thereby increasing revenue, and reducing the deficit.

Mickey Beary, Richland

‘God’s bidding’ seldom ends well

It seldom ends well when politicians claim to be doing God’s bidding, whether it’s birth control, abortion, transgender issues or what is taught in public schools.

Republican culture warriors have been busy making sure that American schoolchildren are freed from the burden of serious learning. According to the March 6, Washington Post’s Hannah Natanson, treatises being removed from classrooms include: Mary Wollstonecraft’s 18th-century classic, “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman,” Mark Twain’s “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men,” Anne Frank’s “The Diary of a Young Girl,” and Christopher Columbus’s journal. A quarter of teachers say their classes have been affected by the new educational gag rules.

Recently, the House Committee on Education and the Workforce marked up a national “Parents Bill of Rights” and a companion bill that will keep transgender girls from competing in youth sports. Both bills appear to be solutions in search of problems. Despite a “parents rights” crusade, most parents are satisfied with what is taught in public schools. Transgender kids in sports number only in the double digits, not enough to merit federal action.

But the panel’s Republicans are not to be persuaded. They claim to be doing God’s bidding.

Bill Petrie, Richland