Editorial voices from elsewhere
Editorial voices from newspapers across the United States:
It has been more than three months since President Barack Obama nominated federal Judge Merrick Garland for the Supreme Court following the death of Justice Antonin Scalia the month before. And the GOP-controlled Senate, playing pure politics, has refused to act on the nomination until after the November election.
On June 23, a 4-4 Supreme Court failed to reach an opinion on a case that tested the administration’s authority to use the discretion it has always had to prioritize the deportation of those most in need of removal. The president’s executive action would have allowed millions of undocumented immigrants – the parents of citizens or lawful permanent residents – to avoid deportation and obtain work permits.
The deadlock brings into stark relief the result when the Senate shirks its constitutional obligation to deny or confirm a nominee for the high court. It has refused to give Garland a hearing.
The Senate must do its job. Give Garland a hearing.
Three years after the federal school lunch program underwent its first major overhaul in three decades, students are eating healthier and wasting less food. For a country awash in obesity, that’s a meaningful step toward helping the youngest generation live longer and healthier lives than their predecessors.
More must be done to incorporate what we know about nutrition and quality of life into school meals, where many students, particularly those from low-income families, receive much of their sustenance. But it is clear the improvements made as part of the 2010 Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act have schools going in the right direction.
The first year of the new guidelines, passed in 2010 but implemented in 2012, brought criticism from some school lunch directors who said they were seeing more of the new, healthier foods end up in the trash rather than students’ stomachs.
But numerous studies now show that not to be the case. Requirements that every student choose a fruit or vegetable with each meal have significantly increased the amount of fruit eaten by students. Fewer kids are choosing vegetables, but those who do are eating more of them. Overall, fruit and vegetable consumption are up, and food waste is significantly down.
Good nutrition is the foundation for successful, happy, healthy lives. Under the new guidelines, schools are doing better than ever at providing that nutrition, and we shouldn’t take a step back now.
Despite the need to confront climate change, the United States is perilously close to letting the largest producers of carbon-free electricity fade away. Nearly half of the nation’s aging nuclear plants will reach the end of their approved lifespan by 2040, and fewer than a half-dozen new reactors have been approved in the past 30 years.
Congress must intervene. Lawmakers have an opportunity to re-establish nuclear power as an important component in U.S. energy policy by approving bipartisan bills designed to encourage the research and development of advanced nuclear technology.
The nation is far too reliant on coal-fired plants whose emissions contribute not just to climate change and mercury contamination but also to heart and lung diseases. Natural gas is a cleaner-burning fuel, but its extraction through fracking causes environmental damage. Wind and solar power are promising alternatives and deserve to be a growing part of the nation’s energy portfolio, but neither has reached the scale or economic efficiency needed to reverse climate change.
In a bipartisan vote earlier this year, Wisconsin lawmakers lifted a moratorium on construction of nuclear reactors in the state.
It was a welcome recognition of the role that nuclear power can play in creating a safe, secure and reliable energy portfolio. Congress can now further the cause nationally by investing in advanced nuclear technology.