Hello Friends,
Happy November!
Starting with the good news: both food and fuel assistance will continue flowing. Both were in jeopardy due to the federal government shutdown. The Vermont Emergency Board voted to use reserve money to fund these programs with the hope that the feds will reimburse us later. And yesterday, a judge ordered the Trump administration to fund SNAP benefits, so we are safe there. Obviously, the most important part of this is that Vermonters will be receiving food and fuel assistance that they rely on.
Of significant concern to our district is the direct attack on our historic and well-functioning system of school choice, and even the ability to continue sending students to Burr and Burton and other schools in the valley. As a reminder, a task force was charged with coming up with up to three maps to present to the legislature for adoption as the basis for the implementation of Act 73, the education transformation bill. Unfortunately, the people who want to shutter independent schools are well represented on the task force. For a factually inaccurate and biased treatment of our district, read the documents by Rep. Holcombe and Jennifer Bozojorns on the school district redistricting task force meeting documents page from Oct. 28. Rest assured that this effort will be met with stiff resistance from your representatives. Thank you to those who made a comment at the public forums recently. There will be future opportunities to weigh in.
On Thursday, the energy and digital infrastructure committee, on which I sit, met for the day in the Statehouse to get up to speed on the many impacts of federal actions on the energy landscape. The short version is that, despite the administration’s proclamations about bringing back American jobs and industries, they are dramatically undermining the wind and solar industries in the country. Wind and solar are the least expensive and quickest to deploy energy sources, but this administration is going all-in on fossil fuels. The wind and solar industries also provide tens of thousands of good paying American jobs, which are now in jeopardy. The offshore wind projects in New England, which have been delayed or cancelled, would have provided low-cost electricity and added flexibility to our grid. As a direct result of this federal policy, your electric bill will be going up over the coming years.
My concern for our health care (disease care) system continues – it is our biggest challenge as a state. The two bills we passed last session lowered health insurance rate increases considerably. They also forced the UVM Health Network to come to terms with its misguided management structure and outsized deleterious impacts on costs in Vermont. The CEO resigned, and the new CEO seems to be moving in the right direction. Lots of work still to be done here. The big added concern to the fragility of our hospitals is the loss to Vermonters of the subsides for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act (Vermont Health Connect), which will result in many people dropping coverage altogether and therefore utilizing emergency rooms for their health care, driving up costs for hospitals already under severe strain.
Please let me know what you think I should be working on in the upcoming session. Governing is a communal endeavor, and I need to hear from you
Thanks and keep in touch,
Rep. Chris Morrow
Windham-Windsor-Bennington District