Editorials

Op-ed on the State & Local Tax Deduction by Reps. Mike Quigley, Bill Foster, and Brad Schneider.

On March 25, 2017 eight people were shot in the city of Chicago. The following day, twelve more people. Some were victims of retaliations and many more were left with new plans to retaliate, resulting in the continuation of a vicious and deadly cycle. As more shots are fired, more deaths occur, and more people are exposed to the trauma—and susceptible to the influence—of violence. While this sequence isn’t unique to Chicago, it is all too evident on the streets we call home. Violence of all forms is wreaking havoc in communities across the country, disproportionately impacting communities of color and shaving half a million years of life off our collective lifespan. But, it doesn’t have to be this way.

Whether you’re a member of Congress or the president of the United States, the American people are your best watchdog. In order for Americans to serve this vital function and fulfill these critical responsibilities, it is only reasonable to provide them with the resources they need to carry out the job. We can start by allowing them to see who has the ear of our nation’s highest leaders. That’s why I worked with my Democratic colleagues in the Senate to introduce the Make Access Records Available to Lead American Government Openness (MAR-A-LAGO) Act, which re-instates the Obama administration’s practice of releasing White House visitor logs.

I last visited Kyiv in April 2014, when the energy in the city was still electric. For months, Independence Square—dubbed the Euromaidan by Ukrainians seeking to tug their country out from under Russia’s grasp—had been occupied by protesters and police as unrest gripped the city in the dead of the Ukrainian winter. As I stood on Khreshchatyk Street, the Euromaidan was still filled with Ukrainians from every walk of life, demanding a more transparent government, a more democratic society and closer integration with Europe and the West.