Honorable Donna Shalala from Florida (8th U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services and as former Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida’s 27th district )

 

6/02/2024

Honorable Donna Shalala 

c/o Office of the President 

The New School

66 West 12th Street, 8th Floor 

New York, NY 10011

Dear Honorable Shalala,

My name is Matt Winick from Ann Arbor, Michigan and I have a strong interest in learning history including social justice. In these subjects, I like to learn the need for civil rights to be stronger to reduce discrimination, protect the environment from pollution, expand on social justice to improve communities, and many others. Honorable Shalala, the main reason I’m writing you a letter is to explain how I find your work when you served as 18th U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services and as former Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida’s 27th district to be very inspiring to me.

When you served as 18th U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services from 1993-2001, I liked on how you worked with President Bill Clinton to help lobby congress to push for the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 to help people from losing their job if they are dealing with a medical conditions or if they are taking care of their family member who is sick,  expand on (CHIP) Children’s Health Insurance Programs to help children who are from low income families or with a pre existing conditions get access to health care,  implement educational awareness about ways to reduce breast cancer or other cancers, and many others. Also what I liked about your work as U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services is how you work to provide funds for improvements into  behavioral therapy or other mental health services including special education to help people with disabilities including people with autism spectrum along with people with mental illness get help, expand on drug treatment programs to help drug users get the care they need to reduce drug abuse, and create an investigation commission in the department to investigate minorities, women, and people with disabilities that have face different forms of discrimination in getting access to health care. In your role as Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida’s 27th district from 2019-2021, I truly appreciated on how you were a strong supporter of civil rights by advocating for people with disabilities’ rights, supporting fund for women including minorities businesses to help them compete in the economy, and heavily express the need to make civil rights stronger to reduce discrimination.  Supporting funds for renewable energy resources to reduce addiction to oil including gas, heavily express the need for industries including housing to use energy efficient products to help reduce high energy cost while reduce pollution, and voted against the Keystone Pipeline construction to help protect public lands including Native American reservations from toxic chemical spills are great ways to help protect the environment. Another thing that I liked about your work in Congress was how you stood up against President Donald Trump when he would push for discrimination policies against people with disabilities from getting accommodations in education including health care services and reject Trump’s plan on weakening rights of people with pre-existing conditions including medicaid.  

Honorable Shalala, I have autism with a learning disability. Having a disability is hard for me because I have trouble comprehending on learning different advanced subjects, sometimes I struggle to communicate my thoughts in different social settings, and get teased. Your commitment to be a strong supporter of civil rights including people with disabilities’ rights really inspires me to work hard on my disability. Your role as 18th U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services and as former Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida’s 27th district helps give me  motivation to continue to learn history including social justice. My future goal is to someday work in these areas to help emphasize the need for civil rights to be stronger to reduce discrimination, protect the environment from pollution, expand on social justice to improve communities, and many others.

I strongly believe that you made a greta difference in public service.  I’m very proud on how you worked hard to support civil rights including people with disabilities’ rights, expand on health care initiatives, and many others. You truly inspire me to work hard on my disability, learn about your work, and continue to learn different subjects. I was wondering if you could please share some of your thoughts or achievements that you made when you served in the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services and in Congress. Thanks for taking the time to read my letter, working hard to make a great difference, and inspiring me. Please continue to advocate and push for common sense ideas to help improve society.

Sincerely,

Matt Winick