To the Editor:
As I stood at the back of a packed community hall watching the Congresswoman launch her re-election bid, I realized just why she pulls support from so many diverse northern Virginians. It’s because she is really with us – she is in and among us. Barbara commutes with us on our roads and on the Metro. She grieves with us, as the diagnoses roll in and chemo begins. She vows with us, to not let one more of our young people succumb to heroin addiction. She resolves with us to purge human trafficking from our neighborhoods. She demands that taxes propel us, not crush us. I am glad to support this incredibly hard-working leader and her practical solutions to our shared priorities.
Barbara Comstock was a key player in passing a landmark five-year transportation package that devotes funding to relieve those notorious traffic chokepoints and to repair our poor roads. Barbara has levied a healthy dose of accountability on Metro, which, as last week’s closure showed, needs it. She helped pass the “21st Century Cures Act,” which encourages cutting-edge medical research aimed directly at cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s – diseases which rob us of too many, too soon.
Partnering with federal, state and local officials, Barbara kicked-off two heroin Task Forces in Northern Virginia. These joint operations fight the epidemic on two fronts: 1) educating our neighborhoods about the heroin crisis and 2) preventing overdose by arming our area’s First Responders with opioid-reversing drugs.
Barbara helped usher in a $600 billion tax relief package, which made the Child Tax Credit, the Earned Income Tax Credit, and the American Opportunity Tax Credit permanent. As a mother of four, I can attest to the immediate impact these have on my family. Her work also solidified the Research and Development Tax Credit, so businesses, like those along the Dulles Corridor, can create high-skill jobs that will employ the next generation. Demonstrating really good judgment, Barbara voted to increase defense and cybersecurity funding, to protect us from terrorism, and she smartly tapped our region’s many cybersecurity experts to craft congressional responses to recent cyberthreats.
She talked about all of this at her kickoff, without fanfare and with the press largely ignoring this event and her accomplishments. But she has demonstrated commitment to northern Virginia’s most pressing issues, so it’s no wonder that she brings all kinds of Virginians together. While some slogans in today’s politics bark, “I’m With Her,” Comstock’s actions show that “She’s With Us.” And in the immortal words of Robert Frost, “that has made all the difference.” Please join me in supporting Congressman Comstock for re-election to Virginia’s 10th.
Gerarda Culipher
Oakton