Investments making a difference

The years 2021 and 2022 were historic for American working families and fundamental freedoms. The Biden administration and Democrats delivered a record number of legislative achievements, including the:

• Inflation Reduction Act, with billionaires paying their fair share;

• CHIPS and Science Act, to manufacture semiconductor chips in America;

• Honoring our PACT Act, helping veterans exposed to toxic burn pits;

• Emmett Till Antilynching Act, making lynching a federal hate crime;

• Postal Service Reform Act, bringing financial stability to the USPS;

• Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, bringing the most substantial gun-safety legislation in decades;

• Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization, expanding investigation of assaults on women and girls;

• Respect for Marriage Act, protecting same-sex and interracial marriages.

With implementation of the 2021 American Rescue Plan and the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund, 220 million Americans were fully vaccinated against COVID, resulting in a 90% reduction in daily COVID deaths.

Under the American Rescue Plan, unemployment fell from 6.4% in Jan. 2021 to 3.7%, with 10 million jobs added to the economy. With the Inflation Reduction Act, $362 billion was appropriated to fight disasters of climate change.

Wilkes County is directly benefitting from American Rescue Plan Funding, with $18 million for North Wilkesboro Speedway revitalization, $1 million for sheriff’s office and EMS vehicles, $3.1 million for EMS facility construction, $600,000 for fire training burn facility, $288,933 for vaccine incentives, $7.9 million for Rural Community Wastewater Infrastructure and $571,194 for Rivers Edge Park, according to news and commissioner reports.

We thank you, President Biden, for investing in our American communities.

KATHRYN CHARLES.

Purlear, N.C.