Did DC’s poor budget practices get passed to Maryland?

It was eye-opening to read about Maryland’s apparent substantial fiscal mismanagement compared to Virginia and especially to Pennsylvania (“FOX45: Maryland’s budget woes spark comparisons with Pennsylvania and Virginia,” March 26).

The cited data for Pennsylvania which has a much smaller budget serving a much larger population certainly raises some questions like why and how come?

Could it be that Maryland with its close proximity to the seat of federal government and its track record of spending and deficits has rubbed off on Maryland? I am all ears.

— Michael Ernest, Catonsville

A frog is Maryland’s commencement speaker?

Anyone like myself who regularly reads The Baltimore Sun understands that the federal government has issues with funding higher education, especially (but not totally) related to diversity, equity and inclusion or DEI.

How, then, can those in charge at the University of Maryland choose a frog to speak at commencement (“Kermit the Frog named University of Maryland commencement speaker,” March 26)?

Now, not only will the feds take away funding for research on racism, gender inequality, DEI and the school’s world renowned infectious disease department, but I fear they will stop funding biological research including that related to maintaining and improving the Chesapeake Bay.

How short-sighted.

I fear that next year they’re going to choose a commencement speaker from the cast of “My Favorite Martian.”

— Warren Israel, Pikesville

A question for both political parties

I would ask members of both political parties that before they defend their side to ask themselves the following question: “If the other side did that, would I defend them?”

For Democrats, if a Republican governor in Maryland was raising taxes and fees and installing massive cuts to balance the state budget, would you support that, the way you support Gov. Wes Moore (“House approves ‘hard’ Maryland budget,” March 26)?

For Republicans, if a Democratic president was raising tariffs, would you support that (“Trump places 25% tariff on imported autos, expecting to raise $100 billion in tax revenues,” March 27)?

Those who can’t answer yes are hypocrites.

— Mark Johnson, Towson

Should the space telescope top Social Security?

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope project run by NASA — to construct a wide-field telescope and shoot it nearly a million miles into space — seems to be a worthwhile project, but it is expensive.

It will cost U.S. taxpayers $3.2 billion over the course of its life cycle which started in the 2010s and is currently scheduled to end in 2032, but may be extended. It includes a launch of the telescope aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket in 2027.

Given all the concern about cutting the federal budget and laying off federal employees in recent weeks, has the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope project seen its funding reduced?

No, it has not. As a matter of fact, as I understand it, significant progress has been made recently to enable the launch of the SpaceX rocket on schedule.

SpaceX is primarily owned by Elon Musk, the man tasked by President Donald Trump to root out waste, fraud and abuse in the U.S. government.

This project seems to me to be as worthy of being eliminated as, for example, the cuts to the Social Security program currently being undertaken (“Democrats allege Social Security ‘bedlam’; Trump nominee denies placing DOGE officials at Maryland-based agency,” March 25).

Is this not a conflict of interest? Perhaps Musk has accidentally overlooked this conflict and should now proceed to save the taxpayers whatever is left of the $3.2 billion that Congress has allocated for the project.

— J. Suman, Pikesville