Letters to the Editor for Thursday, July 4

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Legislators must agree on limo regs

The Assembly and Senate should have been working together this session to get important limo safety measures signed into law by now.
A number of bills were passed in each house that can prevent tragedies and save lives.
We cannot forget the tragic crash in Schoharie that claimed the lives of 20 people, deemed the worst transportation disaster in nearly a decade.
These bills are important to the families that lost loved ones in that crash and they are important to me. Session may have ended, but I’m ready to keep working and do whatever it takes to get this done.
The Assembly and Senate must come together to get these bills signed into law, they simply cannot wait any longer.
Angelo Santabarbara
Schenectady
The writer represents the 111th Assembly District in the state Legislature.

Base immigration on merit, the law

Seventy-five years ago, on D-Day, the largest amphibious invasion in history had 175,000 Allied soldiers landing on the beaches in Normandy.
This year we have an invasion expected to be six times larger, with over 1 million immigrants at our country’s southern border.
The Democrats choose to do nothing to end this crisis, indeed for months even proclaiming there is no crisis.
It is a crisis that is costing every taxpayer. The Federation for American Immigration Reform estimates state taxpayers spent $44.4 billion on illegal immigration education alone.
That was in 2017, and the cost will undoubtedly go up much more because family groups bring in more children.
That is only one cost and does not include non-monetary costs such as crimes committed by undocumented immigrants.
As the son of immigrant parents, I’m a firm believer that immigration is good for our country, so long as it’s legal and merit-based.
William F. Malec
Galway

Climate, health care are at a crisis level

After watching the Democratic debates for president, I generally felt the candidates offered no leadership, direction or urgency on climate change or universal health care.
We heard that climate change was the biggest “existential” threat to humanity. Instead of using, “existential,” the candidates needed to cut to the truth and say, “Your children and grandchildren are going die if we don’t make sacrifices now.”
I have followed climate change reporting for years, and sadly believe it’s already too late.
But, I also believe, “It’s not over ‘til it’s over.”
So, if we are going to try, we have to get dead serious right now.
As far as universal health care, the way “Medicare for all,” was dismissed and demonized shows that the Democratic Party is still concerned more about the insurance companies than the health of the people.
I witnessed a longtime friend leave a hospital because he was afraid of the medical bills. A week later, he was dead. While people debate ideology on capitalism and socialism, others with actual and acute problems die.
As inaction on climate change and health care continues, the elected officials who could address these problems and chose not to are murderers.
I believe the one candidate that truly takes these issues seriously and has the apparatus behind him to bring him victory and affect future change is Bernie Sanders.
I don’t believe the other leading contenders take these issues seriously and remain loyal to their big donors.
Rich Moran, Jr.
Scotia