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.
With countless headlines reminding readers that jobless benefits begin expiring Monday, it was inevitable that each party would be slinging blame over the Senate’s failure to pass a filing extension before leaving town last month for spring break. Which is why you’ve got Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., Sunday accusing Republicans of “irresponsibility” and Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., returning fire Monday with charges that “Democrats thought it was more important to catch their planes” than help the unemployed.
Lost in the hostile little back-and-forth is the same thing that was lost during much of the debate over health care reform: The two sides simply don’t agree on the policy, and so no length of negotiation was likely to produce a compromise.
In the case of unemployment benefits, the parties are much closer than they put on. Both want to extend the filing deadline, which is Monday. But the Republicans want to use stimulus funds to pay the tab. The Democrats don’t, arguing that a bit of temporary deficit spending amid the jobs crisis will pay dividends down the road. That’s it. That’s the disagreement. And both sides have an argument to back them up. Funny, though, how quickly the underlying issue gets lost in the mud.
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