P-cards

The Boston Herald has done a great job investigating and bringing to the public’s attention the corruption that exists with our public officials. Howie Carr also does a great job exposing fraud and crime.

I would like to propose a solution to the P card that our elected officials use and abuse. Why not bring it in line with what most private sector businesses do?

ELIMINATE THE PROCUREMENT CARD entirely and substitute the following legitimate expense reimbursement processes.

All government employees that incur legitimate work related expenses keep their receipts and submit them bi-weekly or monthly to their boss who will review the receipt  for APPROVAL or DISAPPROVAL, initial each receipt if legitimate and submit it to accounting for payment within 7 days. The private sector calls it accountability.

For those who are the boss, they will submit their receipts to the Department Accountant who will review each receipt for APPROVAL or DISAPPROVAL, initial each receipt  and submit it for payment. The private sector again calls this accountability.

Those government employees who approve each submitted receipt by initializing approved receipts put themselves on the firing line for abuses if exposed.  In any case, let’s not let abusive taxpayer fraud continue.

Paul B. Ahern

Melrose

Equal COLA Act

I am a retired federal employee writing to raise public awareness about the Equal COLA Act, H.R. 491/ S. 624, which would provide more equitable annual cost-of-living-adjustments (COLAs) for Social Security beneficiaries, federal annuitants and veterans under the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS). The legislation would bring much-needed financial relief to millions of seniors across the country.

Under the Equal COLA Act, FERS retirees would receive full COLAs in line with the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) and Social Security beneficiary’s annual COLA adjustments, instead of the current system which caps their adjustments. This unfairly leaves FERS retirees’ annuities vulnerable to the impacts of inflation, and, in times of high inflation for retirees on fixed monthly incomes, can erode their financial stability.

Passage of the Equal COLA Act would guarantee fair treatment for federal retirees who have dedicated their careers to public service, and would ensure that they, and their annuities, are valued accordingly. I urge our members of Congress and my fellow Americans to stand up for the federal community and support the Equal COLA Act.

Joseph Andrzejewski

Topsfield

Socialist pols

A crash is coming to the Big Apple and we cannot avert our eyes. And we cannot blame alone youthful voters unschooled in 20th century history, for many of their parents are as ignorant of recent collectivist calamities as their young. And so are Democratic politicians like Sen. Elizabeth Warren, flocking to the socialist whippersnapper for a photo-op since he is the only thing going since Donald Trump laid waste to the dream of a Biden follow-on with Harris-Walz. If Eric Adams and Andrew Cuomo don’t tone their egos and present a unified front for opposition voters, Zohran Mamdani will leave only the core of the apple.

Paul Bloustein

Cincinnati, Ohio