1. United States
2. Minn.
3. Letter

I am writing to you today as a deeply concerned constituent to express my dismay regarding proposals to fund new monument construction in Washington, D.C. While honoring our history is important, pursuing large-scale vanity projects at this moment is misguided and signals a disconnect from the realities facing everyday Americans. With national inflation still high, energy costs rising, and the purchasing power of families decreasing, I find it irresponsible to allocate taxpayer dollars toward new monuments. Furthermore, it is appalling that this spending is being considered while federal health agencies are facing massive cuts, including proposed reductions to the CDC, NIH, and critical Medicaid funding. As we hear reports of potentially thousands of healthcare jobs being lost, scientific research being slashed, and essential safety-net programs for the elderly and disabled being compromised, spending on new concrete structures is a profound misplacement of priorities.