Editorials from around Pennsylvania

Editorials from around Pennsylvania

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CONGRESS MUST RESPOND TO CDBG FUNDING THREAT, March 28

President Donald Trump has left the $3 billion Community Development Block Grant program out of his 2018 federal budget proposal, accounting for nearly half of the $6.2 billion in spending decreases the administration proposes for the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

In its proposal, the Trump administration said the program hasn’t shown results.

However the residents of Freeburg, who benefited from a $500,000 grant used toward a $1.7 million public water system upgrade or those who live in Penns Creek, who received a $600,000 grant toward a $1.6 million sewer plant project, would likely disagree.

Sunbury directed a combined $2.3 million in annual and competitive CDBG funding toward its $3.6 million Chestnut Street reconstruction project. The grant program has helped fund road, sewer and maintenance projects in Montour County for several years.

Instituted in 1974, the Community Development Block Grant program is one of the longest continuously operated programs at HUD, and the members of Congress who represent the Central Susquehanna Valley now have an obligation to speak up on behalf of local citizens and elected officials as they carefully evaluate the future of a vital program in which 70 percent of the fund must be used to benefit low- and moderate-income residents.

The CDBG program requires communities applying for the funds to follow a detailed plan that encourages citizen participation. The plan must provide reasonable and timely access to local meetings, an opportunity to review proposed activities and program performance and provide for timely written answers to written complaints or grievances.

For years, our county governments and local communities have held dozens of public meetings to accept recommendations for CDBG project proposals and to thoroughly outline the scope of those chosen for funding and how they benefit the community.

Among the Valley communities receiving annual funds last year were Shamokin and Sunbury, each receiving $272,958; Coal Township, $135,419; Milton, $107,933; Lewisburg, $95,846; Selinsgrove, $94,753; Kelly Township, $93,463 and Danville, $88,658.

We trust that U.S. Reps. Tom Marino, R-10 and Lou Barletta, R-11, as well as U.S. Sens. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., and Bob Casey, D-Pa., will be prepared to respond to the potential elimination of a funding program that has a solid history of providing wide-ranging support to lower-income residents, especially those living in rural communities.

- The (Sunbury) Daily Item

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LEGISLATORS, LAW PROTECT ’PAY-TO-PLAY’, March 28

In his stunning dismissal of a corruption case against investment manager Richard Ireland, U.S. District Judge John Jones III ruled that there was insufficient evidence to find that Ireland had attempted to bribe former state Treasurer Rob McCord with campaign donations.

Federal prosecutors had contended that Ireland had tried to bribe McCord with $500,000 in campaign contributions in exchange for state pension investment contracts.

McCord, who earlier had pleaded guilty in a separate case for attempting to shake down potential donors, had worn a wire to record his conversations with Ireland. The pair discussed hundreds of thousands of dollars in potential campaign donations and investment contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The judge agreed with the defense’s contention, however, that there was no specific quid pro quo, or specific exchange of donations for specific contracts.

The government cannot appeal the judge’s decision. But the state Legislature should take the case itself as an indictment of state campaign finance laws.

Pennsylvania is among a dozen states that do not limit campaign contributions, thus creating an environment that gives heavyweight donors undue access to politicians seeking high office.

Testimony in the Ireland case was that some of those donors don’t waste the opportunity that they purchase with big political donations.

McCord unsuccessfully sought the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in 2014. He testified that he met with a waste company executive and potential campaign donor in 2013, who demanded the right to name the environmental protection secretary should McCord be elected governor. That is appalling.

McCord lost after lending his own campaign $2 million. He then attempted to recoup some of that money by shaking down donors in exchange for treasury contracts.

Most candidates court big donors, few of whom are interested only in good government.

State Sen. Jay Costa, the Democratic minority leader from Allegheny County, has attempted for years to legislate contribution limits. The current system “prices out” regular Pennsylvanians, he contends.

Indeed, if money is free political speech, the likes of Richard Ireland have bullhorns while millions of Pennsylvanians can only whisper. It’s time for the Legislature to make those voices heard by establishing sensible limits on campaign contributions.

- The (Scranton) Times-Tribune

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A BUMP IN THE ROAD: UBER WAS RIGHT TO PAUSE AFTER ARIZONA MISHAP, March 28

Over the years, Uber has picked fights with regulators and municipal officials in various states over its full-speed-ahead approach to its ride-hailing and autonomous vehicle enterprises. But after a weekend accident in Arizona, Uber slowed down, a responsible step that’s also sure to help the beleaguered company’s image.

The Tempe, Arizona, mishap, in which the human driver of a private vehicle failed to yield to the Uber SUV using self-driving technology, wasn’t Uber’s fault. Still, Uber immediately suspended the testing of driverless vehicles everywhere it has them, including Pittsburgh, while it sorted things out. By Monday, Uber said it was returning the autonomous vehicles to the road in San Francisco, where they do not carry passengers, and in Arizona and Pittsburgh, where they do ferry passengers.

There were no serious injuries in the Tempe crash. Yet as the accident shows, driverless technology remains a work in progress and may never be perfect. For all its sophistication, including the ability to sense problem behavior from other vehicles, the Uber SUV still ended up on its side in the middle of the road.

Uber’s engineers will be all over this incident, looking for ways to make their vehicles safer. Other players in this emerging field, including Ford, which is investing $1 billion in a Pittsburgh company working on autonomous vehicle technology, also will want to explore the lessons that might be learned from the accident.

Uber is known for its brain power, not its maturity. The company has taken an act-first, address-regulators-later approach to piloting ride-hailing or driverless cars in places such as Pittsburgh, San Francisco and Portland, Oregon. In cities where the ride-sharing service wasn’t authorized, according to a New York Times report, Uber sometimes used special software to identify and avoid regulators posing as prospective passengers.

Uber also has been accused of exploiting a New York taxi drivers’ work stoppage and stealing a competitor’s intellectual property. It’s been plagued by executive turnover and allegations of an unprofessional workplace culture. Even Mayor Bill Peduto, an ardent supporter, has criticized Uber recently, saying he expects the company to show more interest in a city that’s been giving it the red-carpet treatment.

In this instance, Uber did the prudent thing in halting all autonomous vehicle testing until it could make sure everything is OK on its end. Perhaps the company finally is learning that slowing down sometimes is the best way to get ahead.

- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

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UNEMPLOYMENT NUMBER MAY NOT HAVE BEEN ’PHONY’ BUT IT IS FAR FROM FULL TRUTH, March 24

President Donald Trump has received an enormous amount of criticism - much of it justified - for some of his off-the-cuff comments. One, about unemployment in the United States, was right on target, however.

Earlier this year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the nation’s unemployment rate had dropped to 4.7 percent during former President Barack Obama’s administration. Trump called that “a phony number.”

It is.

We have no doubt the BLS reported an accurate statistic as derived from the formula accepted by the federal government for calculating unemployment. But, as we have pointed out for years, the formula itself is flawed badly.

For one thing, it does not take into account people who have become so frustrated in looking for work that they have given up the search.

A much more accurate picture of joblessness can be gained from another statistic, the workforce participation number. In essence, it is the percentage of working-age Americans who actually have jobs. It has been decreasing since 2000 - but began a sustained nosedive in 2009, when Obama took office.

In February, the U.S. labor force participation rate had sunk to 63 percent - down three full points during Obama’s tenure. More than 7.5 million working-age adults did not have jobs.

So while the unemployment rate report may have been accurate, it was far from the full truth.

-The (Lewistown) Sentinel

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REPUBLICANS AND DEMOCRATS NEED TO WORK TOGETHER FOR A CHANGE AND FIX HEALTH CARE, March 28

President Donald Trump has expressed an interest, according to aides, in working with Democrats on a solution to health care. The GOP’s effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, also known as “Obamacare,” failed last week when the legislation was pulled due to a lack of support among conservative and moderate Republicans. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said he is open to working with the president to find common ground on health care. According to the Congressional Budget Office, 14 million Americans would have lost coverage next year under the proposed American Health Care Act.

Now what?

It was clear to Democrats, and to many Republicans, that the GOP’s plan to repeal and replace “Obamacare” was fundamentally flawed.

It remains clear, among Democrats and Republicans, that “Obamacare” needs fixing for a variety of reasons - rising premiums, high deductibles, providers pulling out of health care exchanges and leaving consumers with fewer coverage options. An insurance card won’t do you much good if there’s no insurer to provide coverage.

But, as the Trump administration has now discovered, stopping the momentum of any massive entitlement is a difficult proposition. As conservative columnist Jonah Goldberg wrote last week, “It’s easy to shout, ’We’re going the wrong way!’ It’s another thing to convince the caravan to turn around.”

Locally, Republicans were divided on the GOP’s American Health Care Act.

U.S. Rep. Pat Meehan, who represents a small portion of eastern Lancaster County, told the Philadelphia Inquirer he would have voted no.

Three other House Republicans - Brian Fitzpatrick, Scott Perry and Glenn Thompson - said they opposed it.

U.S. Rep. Lloyd Smucker, a West Lampeter Township Republican representing the 16th Congressional District, said he would have voted in favor of the bill.

“I am very disappointed,” Smucker said in a statement after the bill was pulled. “But we’re moving forward. We have an agenda the American people expect us to accomplish, and I remain hopeful we can come together to enact reforms that will have a direct, positive impact on the people I am here to represent.”

If Smucker would like to engage the American people in a discussion about health care, we suggest he begin right here in Lancaster County. (And yes, we are once again urging Smucker to hold an in-person town hall event in his district.)

It certainly appears Pennsylvanians had valid concerns about what would happen to their coverage if “Obamacare” was scrapped.

More than 716,000 Pennsylvanians secured health insurance under “Obamacare’s” Medicaid expansion in the commonwealth. As we wrote last week, Department of Human Services Secretary Ted Dallas says that “124,000 Pennsylvanians have received life-saving drug and alcohol treatment services because of the Medicaid expansion.” Dallas was concerned that the uninsured rate would double in Pennsylvania if “Obamacare” were to be repealed.

Smucker had said the American Health Care Act was “a good start to ensuring Pennsylvanians will have access to the care they need at a price they can afford.”

Dallas didn’t see it that way; neither did the CBO and several Pennsylvania Republicans. And neither did we.

But now that the debate over the merits of the GOP’s plan is over, nothing will be gained by allowing “Obamacare” to struggle or “explode,” as President Trump tweeted.

Pennsylvania has some unique concerns when it comes to health care reform, not the least of which is making sure its seniors are taken care of.

In about two years, one in four Pennsylvanians will be senior citizens. Any reform of health care needs to ensure that Medicaid remains intact so that services for low-income seniors and people with disabilities don’t disappear. And any attempt to fix health care needs to acknowledge that there are indeed essential health benefits, such as maternity care and mental health and addiction treatment.

What we typically see after a hard-fought legislative failure - and this one is no different - is a lot of blame and someone claiming victory. There’s plenty of blame to go around, but there are no winners, at least not for the long term.

What we would like to see now is the representatives we’ve sent to Washington work with their colleagues and across the aisle to come up with an amended health care plan - an improved “Obamacare” seems to be the most realistic option at this point - that addresses the needs and concerns of Pennsylvanians and all other Americans.

“We must come together to find a solution to move this country forward,” said Rep. Ted Poe after the Texas Republican announced he was leaving the Freedom Caucus, which has taken much of the blame for the failure of the GOP’s replacement bill.

Poe is right. And perhaps this latest legislative failure presents an opportunity for Republicans and Democrats to actually work together on an issue of vital importance to the American people.

Working together to solve problems would seem to be an important part of any legislator’s job description.

Unfortunately for the American people, it has become more of a pipe dream than a responsibility.

- LNP newspaper

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