Assisting Russia

Why does Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., continue to block election security bills in the Senate? Special counsel Robert Mueller testified July 24 before lawmakers that Russia will attempt to interfere in the 2020 elections.

In the past week or so, McConnell blocked two measures. One measure would have required the use of paper backup ballots in the 2020 election, and the other measure required candidates/campaign officials to notify the FBI if assistance offers came from foreign governments. McConnell is helping Russia undermine our democracy.

Democratic activist Scott Dworkin said McConnell is “a traitor” and “an accomplice to the biggest traitor in American history — Donald Trump.”

The Senate Intelligence Committee also released a report focused on election security and Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. The report found the Russian government directed extensive activity against all 50 states in 2016. The committee recommended considering the allocation of more funding to states for election security once existing funds run out to examine election system vulnerabilities.

Bob Bunyard, New Braunfels cause of rising prescription costs in the U.S. is both outrageous and laughable.

Drug company research is primarily funded by National Institutes of Health grants provided by the U.S. government. Those sainted “free market innovators” in the drug industry howled like pigs stuck in mud when President Donald Trump threatened to cut the NIH budget last year.

That’s because the drug companies have cut their own research-and-development budgets to the bone, choosing to invest more than half of their funds in marketing instead. What little goes to research and development is mainly for safe investments — “me-too” drugs — that do nothing to enhance treatment options for patients.

Price controls are not enough — the patent system needs to be reformed to reward true innovation. Only then will we be able to stop paying more and getting less for health care than any other country in the First World.

Brian King

A reader says Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is helping Russia undermine the U.S. democracy. An activist outside one of last week’s Democratic presidential debates in Detroit would agree.

McConnell