Former U.S. Senator Tom Daschle from South Dakota

4/19/2016

Senator Tom Daschle

Member of the Advisory Committee

c/o Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Commission

Suite 801

1629 K Street, NW

Washington, DC  20006 

Dear Senator Tom Daschle,

My name is Matthew Winick from Ann Arbor, Michigan and I have a strong interest in learning history including public policy.  In these subjects, I like to learn the need to advance on Civil Rights to reduce discrimination, protect the environment from pollution, have healthcare reform to help people who can’t afford health insurance or have pre-existing conditions get the care they need, and many others.   The main reason I’m writing you a letter is because I find your work as U.S. Senator from South Dakota to be very inspiring to me.

When you served as U.S. Senator from South Dakota from 1987-2005, I liked on how you were a strong supporter of advancing Civil Rights to help protect women, minorities, and people with disabilities from being discriminated.  Also on Civil Rights, I liked your commitment to support funding women including minorities businesses to help them compete in the economy and expand programs to help minorities including women get an education in college. I was very proud on how you supported the American With Disabilities Act of 1990 to help protect people with disabilities from being discriminated in public places and in education with other U.S. Senators from both political parties like Senator Tom Harkin, Senator Ted Kennedy, Senator Alan K. Simpson, Senator Richard Lugar, Senator Bob Dole, and many others.  Expand funding stem cell research to reduce different disease and support Children’s Health Insurance Act to help children get the medical care they need is common sense to improve health care.   To protect the environment I was very proud on how you supported the Clean Air Act of 1990 to reduce air pollution, support funding for renewable energy including alternative energy to reduce pollution including addiction to oil with gas, and protect national parks from being disturbed.

Senator Daschle, I have Autism with a learning disability. Having a disability is hard for me because I have trouble comprehending on learning different subjects, sometimes I struggle with communication when speaking with other people, and sometimes I get teased.  Your support for the ADA of 1990 helped benefit me to be protected from being discriminated based on a disability and get an education. In education, The ADA of 1990 helped set up accommodations like extra-time on exams, have T.A. or tutors work with me on different subjects, have educational technology to help improve my comprehension, have special education program to help set up accommodations for me, and use a recorder to record lectures to help improve my note-taking skills.   As the result, the ADA of 1990 helped me get a great education from elementary school through high school and even in my community college.  In 2014,  I graduated from Washtenaw Community College in Ann Arbor, Michigan with an Associates Degree in Liberal Arts. My main focus in my degree is history, government, criminal justice, some business, and some science. My main future goal is to continue learning history, someday teach people about the need to improve society, work in public policy to help create good common sense ideas to move the country forward or make the world a better place.  Your work as U.S. Senator got me interested in being motivated to be interested studying history and reading your books. “Like No Other Time: The 107^th Congress and the Two Years That Changed America Forever”, “Critical: What We Can Do About The Health-Care Crisis”, and “The U.S. Senate: Fundamentals of American Government” are great books because it helped me learn about the need to have universal healthcare to help people who can’t afford it or have pre-existing conditions get the care they need, and understand how the U.S. Senate works with how they play a role in American Government, and  learn about how you dealt with different issues in your role as U.S. Senator.

Senator Daschle, I strongly believe that you made a great difference as U.S. Senator from South Dakota on different issues.  Your support for the ADA of 1990 really helped made a great impact on me.  Your books have helped me continue to expand on learning more about government.  You have inspired me to continue my interest in history including public policy and work hard on Autism.  Thanks for taking the time to read my letter, making great achievements, and inspiring me. I was wondering if you could share some advice about bipartisanship to reduce gridlock.

Sincerely,

Matthew B. Winick

He sent me a picture of himself with a nice message along with the letter