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.
It appears U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, has warmed up to the idea of using reconciliation to pass health care reform legislation.
Harkin told D.C. news site Politico that Senate Democrats have decided too forge ahead with health care reform using the procedural move that bypasses the filibuster and only requires a majority vote to pass legislation. Harkin told a group of state Democrats in January that he was going to use reconciliation to pass a bill that includes a public insurance option, but he has since backed off from the idea. As of Monday, Harkin told MSNBC he would not support using reconciliation for fear of dooming the entire bill.
From Politico:
Sen. Tom Harkin told POLITICO that Senate Democratic leaders have decided to go the reconciliation route. The House, he said, will first pass the Senate bill after Senate leaders demonstrate to House leaders that they have the votes to pass reconciliation in the Senate.
Harkin made the comments after a meeting in Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s office including Harkin and Sens. Baucus, Dodd, Durbin, Schumer and Murray.
Harkin, who chairs the powerful Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, & Pensions (HELP), has been taking heat from several progressive groups for his refusal to publicly back the use of reconciliation to overcome a Republican filibuster. A recent Research 2000 poll of Iowa voters found that 66 percent would favor using reconciliation to pass a health care reform bill, and 62 percent of Iowans favor health care reform with a public insurance option over the current Senate bill without it.
As of Wednesday morning, 34 Democratic senators have publicly declared their support for using reconciliation.
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