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.
A bipartisan bill to reform the nation’s health care system may only come after Republicans manage to defeat a Democratic plan, U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley said Tuesday.
“There’s a feeling that the only way to get a bipartisan agreement is to defeat a Democratic proposal on the first hand and then the Democrats will come to Republican leadership and then, at that point, they’ll know the only way they’re going to get health care reform is bipartisan,” Grassley said during a conference call with reporters.
Grassley said that strategy is risky, though, because if Democrats manage to push through a bill with no Republican input it could establish as law something like a public insurance option or “dozens of other bad things” that will be hard to overturn down the road.
“If the Democratss are successful doing that, we’ll be stuck with that plan forever,” he said. “I don’t think things like that, once changed, will be changed back.”
That is why Grassley said he will continue to work with Democratic Sen. Max Baucus of Montana and others on the Senate Finance Committee in the hopes of finding a consensus bill that can pass with “75 or 80 votes.”
“I’ve been working for something that is more certain,” than hoping a Democratic bill fails, Grassley said. “Maybe we won’t pull it off. But if we do pull it off, we won’t end up with a Canadian-style plan, we won’t end up with rationing or things of that nature. “
Calls for Democrats to push forward without the help of Republicans have been increasing of late, with the fear that GOP lawmakers are not interested in compromise, only killing any reform. Grassley said that is not fair, as Republicans have offered their fair share of bills and ideas to reform health care.
“But, again, a Democratic plan shouldn’t pass,” Grassley said. “Just a Republican plan shouldn’t pass. We ought to have something, when you’re restructuring one-sixth of the economy, that’s very broadly bipartisan.”
His quest for a bipartisan bill has been questioned, though, especially after a fundraising letter for Grassley’s 2010 senatorial campaign was released by the Washington Post’s Ezra Klein. In it, Grassley appears adamant to oppose any health care bill the emerges from committee. In fact, in an interview last month with MSNBC, Grassley said bluntly that he may vote against a bill even if he helped craft it if enough Republicans are not on board.
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