Actress Dascha Polanco is teaming up with food brand, Knorr, for a unique voter registration program called #FeedTheVote. The new initiative targets food-insecure families, a demographic that tends to have low participation in voting.
When it comes to elections, she said, "It's important that we educate ourselves, but also make educated decisions. And make it easily accessible to register to vote and feel the importance of our voice and how we can seek change at the ballot boxes."
It is also important to encourage civic engagement and spread the word in those communities, Polanco said, "I think being a part of these initiatives, where we are making it easily accessible for those [potential voters], whether it's visiting the page, providing a link, I think we have to have these conversations. #FeedTheVote will be able to spread all the information."
The purpose of the #FeedTheVote campaign is to help raise awareness about the roughly 54 million Americans who experience hunger in the United States. In partnership with UnidosUS and Feeding America, the campaign will offer families free, healthy meals and provide on-the-ground voter support in key swing states.
Polanco has a personal connection to this new program as she has experienced food insecurity firsthand. When she was growing up, her parents worried about where their next meal would come from. Now that she is a mom, her connection to the new initiative feels even deeper. It is "an issue of humanity," she said, and that is why she and Knorr are making the effort to ensure consistent access to nutritious food.
"This is a necessity, not a luxury," Polanco said.
Matt Hayden, vice president of govtech solutions at Exiger and a former assistant secretary of cyber at Department of Homeland Security, joined Cheddar to discuss the surprise phone call initiated by Russian President Vladimir Putin to President Joe Biden, ahead of January security talks about the rising tensions over Ukraine. "We're hoping to hear that we're able to talk about the aggression and the leadup of the Ukrainian militarization," Hayden said. "But we're also looking to hear is how the Kremlin leveraged their talking points to try to test their negotiation stance with the United States leading into this January 10th meeting."
The No Surprises Act begins implementation on January 1, 2022. The legislation is meant to curb the practice of unexpected billing for care from providers the patient was unaware were out-of-network from their insurance. Patricia Kelmar, director of health care campaigns for U.S. PIRG joined Cheddar to describe the hundreds, sometimes thousands, of dollars charged to unsuspecting patients and how things will change under the new law. "If we are picking an in-network doctor and an in-network hospital, we should not see those added costs from anesthesiologists, radiologists, scrub-in surgeons," she said. "The other area it protects you is in air ambulances — not ground ambulances, unfortunately — but the helicopters or the airplanes you might need to transport you in an emergency situation."
President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladmir Putin are expected to have another conversation surrounding escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine. Ariel Cohen, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, joined Cheddar's Ken Buffa to discuss the ongoing tensions and why Putin's request for a conversation with Biden comes now. "This is very serious. This is the worst security crisis we had since the collapse of the Soviet Union," Cohen told Cheddar.
Stocks closed mixed on Wednesday, but two indexes - the Dow and the S&P 500 - ended the session with a new record. Akshata Bailkeri, Equity Analyst at Bruderman Asset Management, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where she says there is a consensus for robust consumer spreading in 2022, especially as the Omicron variant is proving to be milder than other COVID-19 strains.
John Quelch, Dean of Miami Herbert Business School, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he says the retail giant is acting in accordance to President Biden's new law banning goods from China's Xinjiang region. Quelch also elaborates on the importance of China in Walmart's overall strategy.
