Readers Write: Funding cuts, American heroes, Christianity

Opinion editor’s note: Strib Voices publishes letters from readers online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

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I’m writing as a grandfather whose grandson Zac died in 2013 from a condition called neurofibromatosis (NF1), a type of cancer that affects about 1 in 3,000 people. Born in 2002 and diagnosed in 2004, Zac had a short life that was marred by seemingly endless chemo infusions, radiation, surgeries and hospitalizations at the University of Minnesota before he died in 2013. Throughout his life, he was an inspiration to everyone he met through his smile and “I’ll never give up” spirit.

Desiring to help, our family established the Zachary NF Research Fund at the University of Minnesota Foundation. The research to find causes, treatments and cures for NF1 is led by professor David Largaespada, Dr. Chris Moertel and their dedicated research teams.

Our efforts to raise funds in 2010 began with cookbook sales, spaghetti suppers, golf tournaments and donations from family and friends. We’ve raised over $1.3 million to date. Our fund became seed money for attracting government and foundation grants.

Last week we learned that the funding for medical research is in jeopardy. President Donald Trump’s executive order to cut National Institutes of Health payments for Facilities & Administration (F&A) will devastate biomedical research nationwide. [Opinion editor’s note: On Monday, a federal judge put the cuts temporarily on hold.]

The U has a negotiated F&A rate of 54% with the NIH, an agreement that goes through 2028. But Friday night’s executive order reduces this rate to 15%. If this order stands, it would mean that for every $100 in NIH grant money awarded, the University of Minnesota Medical School would get $15 dollars instead of $54. This order is illegal because of a law that says such a change must first be approved by Congress.

According to an analysis by a policy leader at Education Reform Now, “more than $60 million in funding is at risk for the U and more than $50 million for Mayo Clinic in Rochester” (“U chief blasts Trump funding cuts,” front page, Feb. 11). According to Largaespada, this would mean firing faculty and staff, training many fewer MS and PhD students, and ending many promising research projects, including the NF1 research that our Zac Fund supports.

I’m writing to alert parents, grandparents, legislators and all who value our children’s health that these draconian funding cuts will impact our children for generations. With no prior warning or consultation, longstanding and highly effective services throughout our government are being slashed. This is not only unacceptable; it is cruel and inhumane. President Trump, have you no heart?

Harvey Bartz, Stillwater

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Gov. Tim Walz recently posted on social media: “We’re focused on feeding our kids. Investing in our schools. Making sure child care is affordable. Regardless of the chaos unfolding in Washington, we’re making Minnesota the best state for kids to grow up.” However, according to his proposed budget, “investing” apparently only applies to the public school system — as he’s seeking to remove more than $100 million in pupil and transportation aid at nonpublic schools. How can the governor make such a broad statement on investing in our schools and students yet exclude those students and families that choose Catholic or other nonpublic schools. Is his “One Minnesota” vision now only One Sided?

Why would he seek to cut funding to a segmented group of students — despite a longstanding statute to provide fundamental services to all students regardless of school choice. Is the governor suggesting with his budget that one class of children is worthy of more than another? It’s truly a question that confounds me.

There are a thousand other areas within the budget where cuts can be made with little to no effect on our daily lives. Removing pupil credits and transportation funding is a direct and targeted attack against Minnesota families that choose nonpublic education paths for their families. Gov. Walz still wants and will take your tax money — he just wants to use it to benefit his definition of investing in our schools.

Hans Molenaar, Shoreview

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The 90-day foreign aid freeze, in addition to threatening the health and safety of millions of people around the world, poses direct consequences to American taxpayers. There’s not a much clearer example than this: “As USAID goes dark, farmers fear impact” (Feb. 7).

Half a billion dollars worth of food is currently at risk of spoilage in transit or at warehouses. That food is meant to feed more than 36 million people — seven times the population of Minnesota.

Smart, strategic investments in foreign assistance can save millions of lives and lift people out of poverty while also making the U.S. safer, stronger and more prosperous. But the chaos created by a sudden pause to vital aid programs helps no one — defeating the pause’s purpose by wasting the resources it purports to protect.

At just 1% of the federal budget, U.S. foreign assistance does a world of good. I hope I can count on Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith, as well as Rep. Tom Emmer, to protect U.S. foreign assistance programs — and the legacy of American leadership they’ve helped create.

Wesley Horton, Circle Pines

The man Chuck Chalberg would valorize by co-opting the words of a University of Chicago conservative does a disservice to the historian and is an attempt to intellectualize his political misconceptions and must be challenged (“How celebrities and/or heroes are made today,” Strib Voices, Feb. 10). Can Charles Lindbergh, who was a Nazi sympathizer, really be considered an American hero? Can a man intent on retribution, an enabler of a nonelected billionaire who is disassembling institutions of democracy, whose VP suggests his illegalities are above the purview of the court system, ever be considered a hero? Chalberg believes this man will bring an end to the “deep state,” which, like the threat of massive illegal voting, is a myth of the far right that threatens the democracy Chalberg wants to save.

Shannon Keeney, Maple Grove

I have been a lifelong citizen (over 80 years) of the Minneapolis area and an active, lifelong, baptized and confirmed member of an arm of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. I have also been an avid reader of the daily Minnesota Star Tribune print newspaper, cover to cover.

Several years ago when we needed a standing pastor for an occasional Sunday morning, Pastor Angela Denker was our guest speaker. I’m not sure why I was drawn to Denker and her sermons but I was. I was always wondering when she would return as a stand-in.

Now she is now she is a contributing columnist for the Strib and I still can’t get enough of her way with words, her reasoning and common sense, her wise and profound questions and her understandable answers to important things I’m interested in. Thank you so much, Strib Voices, for your choice to share her wisdom.

Elaine Zimmer, Brooklyn Park

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The development by President Trump of a federal government unit to combat religious bias is a wise move but wrong target. The president’s creation of a task force in the Department of Justice directed at “anti-Christian bias” misses the mark.

He’s right that there is religious bias that should be addressed and rooted out, if appropriate, but it’s not the one he identifies. The main anti-religious bias these days, as well-documented by public and private data, is directed at Jews and Muslims, among others, especially here in the Twin Cities — not Christians. In fact, it’s the white nationalist movement, a strong segment of the president’s political base, that is responsible for much of this deplorable behavior. Attacking “anti-Christian bias” is like deploying an umbrella on a bright sunny day or looking for a nonexistent needle in a haystack. It’s unnecessary because it’s largely nonexistent.

While the president is trying to make hay with his supporters, the undertaking also distracts attention from the real targets of religious bias and its sources and detracts from the resolve and resources to combat it.

Marshall H. Tanick, Minneapolis