My mother was born on Valentine’s Day. We both loved her special connection to the holiday. When I was a girl, I got some heart-shaped pans from the dime store and started baking her a heart-shaped cake every year. I’ve kept up the tradition.
When she was in her 80s, she was in the hospital for minor surgery. The night before she was scheduled to go home, she said to my daddy, “Don, there’s that gas pain again.” Then she died. The autopsy showed she had advanced heart disease—never diagnosed, never treated.
I learned that heart disease is the #1 killer of women. It was considered a “man’s disease,” but doctors do a much better job screening and treating women for it now than when my mother had her heart attack.
Still, too many people are unable to get those screenings or those treatments—or are driven into debt for getting sick—because of our broken health care system. So today, I’m thinking about my mother, and I’m thinking about how we must ensure health care as a basic human right.
Bailey and I wish you a safe and happy Halloween!
Here’s what you need to know about how to get your student debt canceled under President Biden’s new plan.
And here are those links:
1. Sign up for email alerts at ed.gov/subscriptions to get notified when applications are live—expected to launch in early October. Apply by Nov. 15, and your relief will come through before payments start up again on Jan. 1.
2. For more information on Public Service Loan Forgiveness and whether your employer qualifies: studentaid.gov/pslf/ and studentaid.gov/pslf/employer-search
3. Finally, it’s important that all your information is up to date with your loan servicer, so there aren’t any hiccups when relief takes effect. If you don’t know who your loan servicer is, go to studentaid.gov/dashboard or call 1-800-433-3243.
“The United States must act immediately to address the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza,” Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) write in an op-ed.
“The role of the United States in this operation should be to get medical aid directly to hospitals by air and supplies of food, water and necessities to the shore. Humanitarian organizations must take over from there to distribute and utilize the supplies. In this intense conflict, the presence of U.S. troops or personnel on the ground inside Gaza would be an invitation to direct involvement in the conflict. We must not make that mistake.”
Operation Gaza Relief would address four key needs:
◾️First, supply desperately needed medicine and medical equipment. The 11 partially functional hospitals remaining in Gaza cannot provide care needed by thousands of Palestinians with life-threatening injuries.
◾️Second, the impending famine must be stopped through immediate onshore deliveries of food. Extreme hunger is widespread after months of grossly inadequate deliveries. Nine out of 10 Palestinians are surviving on less than one meal a day.
◾️Third, address the acute water shortage. Contaminated water is already driving widespread illness; cholera and other diseases could spread quickly, with devastating effects.
◾️Fourth, provide safe shelter. The Netanyahu government has repeatedly directed Palestinians to locations that have subsequently come under military attack. Netanyahu’s threatened military operation in Rafah would cause massive and unacceptable additional displacement.
🔗Visit the link in the bio of @PostOpinions to read more. Washington D.C.
Early voting is now open in the Massachusetts presidential primary! I was very happy to cast my ballot for four more years of @JoeBiden and @KamalaHarris’ leadership. And Bailey enjoyed the walk.
If you want to know what Donald Trump would do to abortion rights as president, just look at his record.
Boston women’s hockey won in sudden death overtime! So much fun to watch the game in Lowell and drop the ceremonial first puck. 🏒🥅
Heather’s never missed a student loan payment. But they could only go towards her growing interest—the principal never shrank. Until President Biden’s historic announcement, which will cancel her entire balance! I gave her a call to talk about what this means for her.
Big smiles after President Biden canceled student debt for another 150,000 people. More relief is on the way.
DirectFileKicksAss.com Thank you, @HasanMinhaj, for spreading the word!
Here’s the difference between Republicans and Democrats when it comes to fighting inflation and bringing down costs for families—pointing fingers vs. actually taking action:
The right to an abortion is on the ballot. Women’s health care is on the ballot. We have to keep right-wing extremists from interfering with the decisions of doctors and patients.
It’s despicable. Here’s how we can draw inspiration from the history of #Pride to fight back:
We must get rid of the filibuster, pass the #ForThePeople Act, and stop this assault on our democracy.
Donald Trump overturned Roe, and right-wing extremists are ready to go even further if he gets back in the White House. But by re-electing President Biden with a pro-choice Democratic Congress, we can ensure abortion rights nationwide. Reproductive freedom is on the ballot.
Meghan is one of the 20 million Americans who, thanks to President Biden, won’t owe another penny in student debt. She has two little kids, and I called her to talk about how student debt cancellation will change her life:
We need to #EndTheFilibuster to protect our democracy. Join me at a virtual town hall tonight with #FixOurSenate to talk about how we get this done—link to RSVP in my bio.
It’s clear who’s fighting to put government on the side of working people, from canceling student debt to lowering health care costs and utility bills. And it’s clear who’s standing in the way.
Let’s be clear: Florida’s new six-week abortion ban started with Donald Trump.
Sara was a Pell Grant recipient, so she’s now eligible for $20,000 in student debt cancellation under President Biden’s plan—and it could fully wipe out her balance. We talked about what this means and why we take on these righteous fights.
Anna had to take out loans to go to school and become a teacher, and she’s had to work multiple jobs to pay down debt. We talked about what student debt cancellation means to her: finally having some space to breathe.
We’re building the #MamaLobby! Moms, help us (and @elizabethwarren) tell the world why we need it.
Download the app at votemamalobby.org (linked in bio).
When I look at our fundraising reports, here’s the number I really have my eye on: the total number of contributions. Because that shows the breadth of our grassroots campaign. Every contribution demonstrates the widespread support for ending Washington corruption, ensuring abortion rights, guaranteeing universal child care, getting the wealthy to pay their fair share, tackling corporate price gouging, and making Washington work for working families. Your donation will help us keep campaigning for these plans and will demonstrate the strength of our movement to our opponents. Pitch in if you can today at the link in my bio.
