Chocolate chip cookies, one of America’s most iconic, favorite treats were created by accident. Ruth Wakerfield, owner of the Toll House Inn in Whitman, Massachusetts, was baking some chocolate cookies when she realized she was out of cocoa powder. Ruth had some pieces of a broken chocolate bar that she added, thinking that it would do the same thing.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) – also known as Obamacare – is ten years old. However, with ten years of hindsight, it is clear the ACA has been anything but affordable for Nebraska families. In the Third District, insurance on the ACA exchange often costs upwards of $30,000 for a family when you include annual premiums and deductible. Despite the ACA raising health insurance rates instead of lowering them, this week Speaker Pelosi brought a new ACA expansion bill (H.R. 1425) before the House of Representatives.
The COVID-19 pandemic cast the United States into uncharted territory. Americans were asked to take unprecedented steps in order to slow down the spread of the virus. I have supported bipartisan efforts Congress and President Trump have enacted to fight this virus and provide economic relief. However, I continue to have serious concerns about the costs associated with these bills. We have long had a spending problem, and we must refocus on addressing troubling spending patterns even while fighting COVID-19.
When a 33-year-old Thomas Jefferson sat down in a rented room in the heat of the Philadelphia summer to write the Declaration of Independence, the American Revolution had already begun. On one level, Jefferson was simply putting the reasons for independence into words. The first shot had been fired over a year earlier, after decades of increasingly tyrannical British abuses of the American colonists had culminated in open revolt in Massachusetts.
Q: I’ve been battling severe depression and anxiety for some time. These feelings are bad enough, but I’m concerned that I’m making life difficult for my wife and kids. What should I do?
Exports alone make up more than 12 percent of the United States GDP. Expanding trade markets benefits our economy, relationships with other countries, and consumers. With something so critical as trade, we need to constantly be thinking about ways to improve in this vital area. For this reason, while the ongoing pandemic has disrupted day-to-day life around our nation, the Trump administration has continued its work negotiating and implementing multiple trade agreements with the support of many in Congress.
Nebraska lawmakers are expected to return to Lincoln July 20 to wrap up the final 17 days of the Coved-19 interrupted session.
Q: As a single woman, how important is it that I have a will? Is this something I should be concerned about?
One of the best parts of my job is visiting communities across the vast Third District. While traveling the district, I enjoy touring businesses, farms, ranches, and schools, meeting with local officials, and most of all meeting with Nebraskans. Because of COVID-19, I have been practicing social distancing and have not been able to get around the state as I like. However, like all Americans, my office and I are adapting to the reality of the pandemic to keep connected with the people of the Third District.
With the Nebraska Legislature set to gather again in about a month (July 20), the most frequently asked question is will they get anything accomplished with just 17 days left?