The "war on drugs" has led to a the incarceration of millions of Americans with at least a million more incarcerated every year. Many of these people are drug users with an addiction and punishing them with jail or prison time will not break the addiction, but treatment might. In some states, a first time offender can get 10 years in prison for simple possession while in other's, one can get a 20 year sentence for possession. A decade in jail for having an addiction is not the right answer. Our families are being torn apart by drug addiction, and harsh prison/jail sentences are not helping to resolve the problem. Addiction can be defeated with treatment, not prison.

Our Constitution prohibits excessive bail and yet over 412,000 innocent people sit in jail every day, most, because they can’t afford to pay their bail. Excessive bail can cost the incarcerated their livelihood, homes, and children plus costs America $15.26 billion a year. The money bail system serves only bail bondsman. D.C. has proven that a system that uses public safety and likelihood to return to court as a measurement for release work and that the cash bail system is NOT NECESSARY. This change will: 1. Prevent individuals from remaining in jail due to lack of funds. 2. Stop wealthy/well-connected individuals from being able to get out of jail despite their danger to society and prevent. 3. Bring equity to a system that disfavors those who are not wealthy.

Though President-elect Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election, Trump and several of his allies claimed that the election was fraudulent and pledged to fight when Congress met on Jan. 6 to formally count the votes of the Electoral College. The attempt to invalidate the votes of the electoral college, much less the popular vote of the People of the United States, is a threat to our very democracy. Nebraskans in particular should note, and remember, Smith’s collaboration in such immoral, indecent behavior. Both before and after the seditious riot at our nation’s Capitol building on January 6th, Smith made quite clear that he supports Trump's high crimes and misdemeanors in inciting his followers to fight and move on the Capitol. With ample time between the attack and the resumption of debate on the floor that day, Smith certainly had an opportunity to examine his conscience and choose Country over party. He did not. If there is anything sacred in American political life, the Nation's Capitol itself is surely that. The insurrection on January 6th violated that sanctity. By continuing to promote the vicious falsehoods that prompted the rioters' actions, Smith demonstrated an extreme lack of integrity. He showed no respect for American democracy or the tenets of its constitution, and his representation is an embarrassment to Nebraska and especially the 3rd District that he purports to represent. Smith essentially voted to disenfranchise millions of voters for the sole purpose of handing the election to our disgraced presidential election loser. Not liking the outcome of an election does not give anyone the right to flip the results.

Marjorie Taylor Greene should not be a member of Congress, her Qanon beliefs and conspiracy theory beliefs are dangerous to our country

Because Senator Roger Marshall CONTINUED to support setting aside Americans' presidential votes; because he CONTINUED supporting the lies that Donald Trump won the election and was cheated out of our presidency; because Roger Marshall is not so profoundly stupid as to believe the lies he supports, and could profess them solely for divisive political purposes: because Roger Marshall CONTINUES to support those lies even after personally experiencing the terroristic violence of the division they cause: Roger Marshall has demonstrated he is and will CONTINUE to be an enemy of America's unity and peace. He should be removed from the U.S. Senate.

The three above mentioned men do not represent freedom. They represent elements of tyranny with disenfranchisement, hate rhetoric, promoting distrust of our laws, twisting of the Constitution, and divisive words and actions.

Americans and people around the globe witnessed in horror as a mob stormed the US Capitol on January 6—stopping the certification of the electoral vote, necessitating senators and representatives to be rushed to safety, seeing the capitol building occupied by unscreened agitators, and ending in 5 deaths. And all this encouraged by the outgoing president who continues his unfounded claims that the election was stolen from him and urges his supporters to take action to save the country. Already the plans for the inauguration were being modified to support people staying safe amidst the pandemic. People have been urged to stay home and watch the inauguration on TV. Now there is even more reason to change this to a televised and online event, as those who are disgruntled with the election results have continued to engage in violence to support their cause. We need to put safety first—safety from the pandemic and safety from the threats of violence. We saw with the presidential conventions that changing to an online format can provide opportunities for greater meaningfulness for Americans, most of whom can't be physically present for such historic events. Let's do that for the inauguration. Hold it indoors with physical attendance limited to those specifically involved in the ceremony, and everyone else can participate via TV and online. Further, we insist there be sufficient security at the presidential inauguration to keep everyone who is physically present safe, including President Elect Joe Biden and Vice President Elect Kamala Harris. The appalling lack of security and at the electoral vote certification process was completely unacceptable, especially when the protest gathering was publicized in advance. The lack of action on the part of police or any other security officials stood in stark contrast to the kind of security presence and engagement we saw at the nation’s capital and other locations during the Black Lives Matter protests in the wake of the killing of George Floyd in 2020. We call upon you, as members of the Joint Committee of the Congressional Inauguration Committee, to take these two steps to further ensure the safety of the upcoming presidential inauguration for everyone involved. 1) Change it to an indoor event, restricted to those who are involved, with everyone else participating via TV and online. 2) Guarantee that there is adequate and effective security. Thank you.

Many key Senators who have for months supported the incumbent president of the United States and publicly and boldly opposed the certification of the electoral vote count due to election integrity charges changed their stance after being whisked away into "secure locations" in the Capital building during the lockdown. In order to ensure our representation in Congress through these key representative members has not been compromised by intimidation, threats and other forms of illegal or unconscionable coercion we must have an investigation into the preceding hours after these representatives where whisked away to "secure locations".

Politicians who, through craven ambition, have created conditions where people believe that they are justified in committing acts of violence against our democracy have no place in public life.

Medical institutions across the country have successfully made plans to vaccinate and keep their medical students in the clinical environment. UVA has vaccinated clinical medical students and is now moving on to vaccinate their 1st and 2nd year preclinical students. VCU still doesn’t have an answer for when our clinical students may be vaccinated and there is no explanation for why this is not possible. The return to the clinical environment is contingent on becoming vaccinated, however, it seems that this is not currently a priority. The clinical education of medical students nationwide has already been disrupted due to removal from clinical activities during the summer. Currently it is unprecedented for an academic institution such as VCU to remove students for another 60-90 days. Decreased clinical time will impede education and set students back in their readiness for residency compared to peers at other institutions. While we are medical students now we will be the residents tasked with treating these patients in less than 1-2 years. These changes also ignore the value that medical students bring to patient care teams. Finally, this is a case where medical students are overlooked and undervalued. It is hoped that awareness of this situation will help administrations maintain transparency and prepare for situations like this to prevent such events from recurring. Local news coverage: https://www.nbc12.com/2021/01/05/medical-students-write-letter-vcu-health-regarding-vaccine-plan/ https://www.virginiamercury.com/2021/01/06/some-local-medical-providers-struggle-to-access-vaccine-as-doses-go-to-health-systems-stay-at-home-workers/

It is time that Congress act to help struggling Americans by putting money into their pockets so that they can weather the storm of this pandemic. It is not enough that the COVID relief bill before Congress only offers a one time direct payment of $600.00. This is an insult to many struggling Americans who are going hungry and can't pay the bills. As many politicians continue to argue over the debt and the deficit had no issue with passing $700 billion for defense. They passed a $2 trillion dollar tax bill that 83% of the benefits went to the rich and corporations. It is time for these politicians to act.

Many US families still have significant savings in our accounts and have our Dependent Care facilities closed due to Covid 19. I would hate to see our hard earned savings go to waste due to a March 15th deadline. I know I'm not alone. This simple change could help a lot of families once Dependent Care facilities are safe to open and keep our children safe again.