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.
Despite shakeup in the U.S. Senate following Tuesday’s election in Massachusetts, U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley can still see avenues in which health care reform legislation could be passed by Congress.
“There are probably three potential options that we could be faced with in light of where we are and what happened in Massachusetts,” Braley said today during a conference call with reporters.
U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley
The first option he addressed was House and Senate leaders to finish current negotiations and present a package to both houses prior to the swearing in of Massachusetts’ newly elected U.S. Senator, Scott Brown. A second option is to go to reconciliation of the two existing bills, and have sections of the legislation be passed on a piece-by-piece basis.
“I think there are some significant challenges in doing that, and to continue to tie up floor time dealing with the health care agenda,” Braley said.
A third option is to bring the bill passed by the U.S. Senate to House membership for as-is approval.
“I have very serious reservations about that, but am waiting to see what happens,” he said. “Obviously, leadership in the House, Senate and White House are continuing to analyze their options and at the time they present us with a choice to make I will very seriously weigh the benefits and the potential drawbacks of that legislation for my constituents and vote accordingly.”
In direct response to the Republican win of the late Edward Kennedy’s Senate seat, Braley said he is not willing to look at that one election as a bellwether for overall American sentiment toward President Barack Obama or the Democratic agenda.
“You can’t take a single senate race and try to make strong judgments about what it means for the rest of the country,” he said.
Braley believes the legislative and executive branches must work to alleviate economic pressures on the middle class.
“We know the more people we put back to work, the more money flows into the federal treasury and the more we are going to be able to reduce the deficit and relieve some of the burden that the American voters have been facing in this challenging period of recession,” he said. “I also know through the work that I have been doing as chair of the Populous Caucus, that middle class families have been struggling and left out of the benefits of a recovery that has rewarded Wall Street more than the people working on Main Street. The work that I’m doing … is trying to promote an agenda that will both enhance and expand people in the middle class because know, historically, that when the middle class has been strongest, our country has been strongest.”
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