The Oct. 21 editorial “Farmers need free markets, not another bailout” was right that blue-collar workers don’t need Washington to guarantee them a profit, but D.C. must give them a fair shake.
Like farmers, truck drivers are part of the backbone of the U.S. economy. However, federal law specifically disadvantages them and devalues their time. Since 1938, the Fair Labor Standards Act has made truck drivers an afterthought compared with other blue-collar professions. It remains one of the only blue-collar professions exempt from receiving overtime pay after working a 40-hour week.
Many truckers work 70-hour weeks, with much of that time spent waiting for their vehicles to be loaded and unloaded. They are rarely paid for this so-called detention time. If the federal government is serious about helping truck drivers amid high diesel costs, it will commit to commonsense solutions such as the bipartisan Guaranteeing Overtime for Truckers Act, which would ensure truckers earn overtime.
Todd Spencer, Grain Valley, Missouri
The writer is president of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association.
The Oct. 21 editorial described how President Donald Trump is using the Agriculture Department’s Commodity Credit Corporation to fund an $8 billion bailout for farmers for high fuel costs driven by his avoidable Iran war. That’s bad enough, but this $8 billion, and last December’s $12 billion for farmer “bridge payments” due to tariff disruptions, are not from existing money in the CCC; it is borrowed money. The CCC borrowing authority has an annual $30 billion limit for these and other activities provided by the U.S. Treasury.
This extensive discretionary authority has been of concern to many members of congressional agriculture committees for some time, as it puts them in the position of having to repay billions of dollars in debt for “after the fact” political activities that they have been unable to review or authorize. Though there may be an appropriate rationale for the borrowing authority, Congress must limit the authority’s discretionary availability by establishing more clearly defined uses. American farmers and ranchers have tough jobs as it is; they don’t need to be the source of additional federal debt.
Daniel Shaughnessy, Purcellville, Virginia
The writer is a former deputy assistant administrator in the Agriculture Department’s Foreign Agricultural Service.
Invest in healthier school meals
The Oct. 19 Health article “The diet of a nutrition expert,” which highlighted Walter Willett’s approach to eating, reinforces that the foods we eat can profoundly shape our long-term health and longevity. Americans spend hundreds of billions of dollars every year treating diet-related diseases, yet policymakers too often overlook investing in one of the greatest opportunities to help prevent them: school cafeterias.
For years, I lived with Type 2 diabetes. After changing my diet, my diabetes went into remission. That experience shapes how I, as a school nutrition chef, see cafeterias — not just as places to feed children, but also as one of our most powerful, underutilized public health tools.
School meals should be viewed through a long-term, preventive health lens, because the foods children eat today will influence their health for decades to come. Nearly 30 million children participate in the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program, with school meals providing as many as half of some students’ daily calories. Yet a recent analysis by the nonprofits Friends of the Earth and the Chef Ann Foundation found that of more than 10,000 school lunch entrees, 88 percent relied on animal products as their primary protein source, 39 percent contained red or processed meat, and just 5 percent were fully plant-based, excluding nut butter and jelly sandwiches. These findings raise important concerns about children’s long-term health, especially in the context of Willett’s research establishing the benefits of heavily plant-based diets.
Many school nutrition professionals are preparing more meals from scratch, expanding plant-forward options and sourcing locally grown ingredients when possible. By investing in healthier school meals as a national public health priority, these practices could become the norm.
Jason Tepper, Alexandria
Finally, an October to remember
Will Leitch’s Oct. 24 column, “In this World Series, there’s one big storyline that matters,” noted that this year will be special because there will be a first-time winner. I was moved by Leitch’s words about the fans of the Chicago Cubs, who won the World Series in 2016 after a 108-year drought. Some fans wrote chalk messages on the walls of Wrigley Field with the names of friends and family who died before they got to see their beloved team triumph.
A championship, even if a fan experiences it only once in a lifetime, is important. The pleasure of a wonderful memory can be long-lasting. I was born the year the Dodgers played their first season in Los Angeles. They won just one World Series when they were based in my native Brooklyn. Throughout my childhood, I would often hear about the immense joy of 1955.
For organizations that often win, their fans, accustomed to success, might find it hard to identify that special, memorable year. I think about fans of the Yankees, who were frequent champions in the 1950s (even though they were defeated by the Dodgers in 1955).
In either Milwaukee or Tampa Bay, 2026 will be a year that will long be savored.
Jeffrey B. Freedman, New York
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