Wednesday was a difficult day for The American Independent News Network, which is the larger entity that operates The Iowa Independent. Our chief executive and founder announced two of our sister sites would close and their content would be moved to The American Independent.
A recently introduced bill could have far-reaching impact on the U.S. sugar industry, including American Crystal Sugar, a farmer-owned cooperative that locked out 1,300 Midwest workers on Aug. 1.
The chairman for Herman Cain’s Iowa effort says the campaign “relied more on the word of farmers than Washington regulators” in deciding to run an ad containing claims the Environmental Protection Agency says are false.
The Iowa Senate will remain under the control of a slim 26-25 Democratic majority when it reconvenes in January 2012.
Rep. Steve King, R-Kiron, received a near perfect score on the American Conservative Union’s annual rankings of House and Senate members.
King scored a 96 out of 100, losing out on collecting the group’s “Defenders of Liberty” award due to his vote last year to override President George W. Bush’s veto of the $307 billion farm bill. The entire Iowa delegation voted to override.
Iowans were not completely shut out of the group’s awards, though. Rep. Dave Loebsack, D-Mt. Vernon, received the “True Liberals” award for voting against all 25 of the bills used to determine the rankings, scoring a perfect zero.
Rep. Tom Latham, R-Ames, scored an 88 percent, losing points for supporting an expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) and tax credits for alternative energy sources. Rep. Bruce Braley, D-Waterloo, scored a 4 percent, voting against the group’s position on 24 of 25 issues (he initially voted against the financial services bailout but supported a later version). Rep. Leonard Boswell, D- Des Moines, also scored a 4 percent (he supported a bill permitting D.C. residents to own firearms in response to a Supreme Court decision).
In the Sentate, Republican Charles Grassley scored a 76 percent and Democrat Tom Harkin scored scored a 4 percent.
The 25 bills which the group used to compile its ratings reflect a cross-section of issues, including taxes, energy, climate change, unions and culture topics like abortion and gun ownership.
The ACU has issued its rankings every years since 1971, providing a numerical indicator of how much lawmakers agree with the group’s conservative ideals. The group was founded in December 1964 following the defeat of Republican Barry Goldwater in that year’s presidential election. It is probably best known as the sponsor of the Conservative Political Action Conference.
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