Questions for Gene Taylor

I didn’t ask any questions at Monday’s town hall with Gene Taylor (and if I had, I might have been mobbed by 1,000 angry citizens). Here are some of the questions I wrote down in case I had a chance to use them:

Many people on the Gulf Coast rely on public transportation to get to work, do errands, and visit family. Yet we haven’t seen much progress; for instance, there’s no sign of Amtrak service returning to coastal Mississippi. What are you doing to develop our public transportation infrastructure on the Gulf Coast? (Thanks to Seth for the question.)

Our current health care system is failing in certain areas. What are you doing to create a system that (1) upholds our moral duty to protect the vulnerable; (2) helps sustain small businesses and the self-employed; (3) expands preventative care and focuses on keeping patients healthy; and (4) reduces waste and increases quality of care?

It’s hurricane season, and wetland loss, barrier island erosion, global warming, and other issues are threatening our coastal resiliency. What are you doing to protect and reconstruct our infrastructure and natural systems?

National service programs such as AmeriCorps have been vital to the rebuilding effort on the Gulf Coast. AmeriCorps members receive an education award that, unlike most scholarships and fellowships, is subject to federal income tax. What are you doing to support national service, and would you support removing the tax on the education award?