Missourians with disabilities deserve better
On Aug. 31, I attended a town hall hosted by Rep. Melanie Stinnett on transportation for residents with disabilities. As a former special education teacher, I’m still connected to those families. I’ve seen parents work incredibly hard to make sure their children are cared for and have some semblance of a life. This work is not easy, and I believe all Springfield families deserve the support they need to live as well as they can.
This is personal for me. My daughter has cystic fibrosis. My niece is nonverbal and uses a wheelchair, and my nephew is also disabled. So I attended my representative’s event with a question about funding for disability services and supports.
I was told my question had already been addressed, but it hadn’t. We all know
why.
Missouri is facing a budget crisis created in part by lawmakers like Stinnett, who voted to eliminate the capital gains tax and slash taxes benefiting corporate special interests. That’s why, in the FY27 budget, Governor Kehoe recommended not funding disability services at all.
To add insult to injury, Rep. Stinnett has talked about using revenue from gas station slot machines to fund disability services. She knows that is not a funding stream families can count on. She’s gambling — no pun intended — on whether disability services will be funded, whether my niece and nephew will have what they need, and whether disabled people and their families can do more than survive.
It hurts to see Stinnett present herself as being “for” disability funding while failing to support stable, dedicated funding for these services.
Since I didn’t get to ask my question Monday, I’ll ask it here:
Melanie Stinnett, how can I trust that you won’t put disability services on the chopping block so wealthy special interests can avoid paying what they owe, leaving working families like mine to pay the price?
Melanie Donnell, Springfield
Tariffs or terror?
Creating uncertainty is a core goal of terrorism.
Trump’s tariffs have created notable uncertainty in global markets.
It is possible to consider Trump’s tariffs as being global economic terrorism.
Rick Matz, Springfield
Time for real leadership
I can understand nobody being frustrated that my purchased item was mailed in Fort Mojave, Arizona on Aug. 20 and arrived in Las Vegas, Nevada on Aug. 21. Eleven days later, on Sept. 1, it was still in Las Vegas. But the heck with the package — this is the organization Donald Trump wants to let us know who gets to vote in the mid-term elections.
What a stupid idea. How in the world is the mail service supposed to identify proper voters? Oh, I guess the Department of Homeland Security will inform them so they can inform us? Maybe the White House can let Homeland Security know so they can let the Post Office know?
This is the Republican Party that is so interested in getting big government out of our lives. I believe it to be the party of connivance every way you can. Lie, cheat, change things in your favor and make this country more shameful, unfair, and lousier every day. When we go to the polls this time it should be with the resolve to put a stop to this embarrassing, self-centered self-servitude that these spineless politicians are enabling and sharing in.
Oh, but the stock market is great? A whole lot of people cannot benefit from the stock market; a lot of people are busy raising a family of little ones and the cost of living is driving them down. These people starting families are the backbone of America. They are the planners and the workers that keep it going; not some billionaire telling you how great everything is when you can’t afford housing. How would they know, they only know how to talk and most of them have no tangible abilities at all. All they have is money and inflation is a minor thing to them. They never worry about the car payment or the kids getting a new pair of shoes.
We do not need any more of this; we need leaders who are not for sale or afraid of keeping their comfortable place. I am sick of not being considered and sick of the promises that are only lies. Let’s show how we feel in November.
Tom Keersemaker, Theodosia
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Letters to the Editor: Disability funding, tariffs and turmoil
