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.
On the eve of her trip to Iowa today to view areas affected by this year’s severe weather, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi sent a letter to President Bush over the weekend requesting that Iowa pay less of the total share for debris pickup and rebuilding infrastructure.
Pelosi’s letter, said that Gov. Chet Culver requested in July that FEMA cut Iowa’s share of the costs from 25 percent to 10 percent. FEMA denied the request.
On August 14, FEMA Administrator David Paulison denied the Governor’s request to reduce the state’s cost share to 10 percent because, at that time, the qualifying threshold – based on the amount of federal obligations in this disaster – had not yet been reached. However, FEMA has acknowledged that the amount of federal obligations continues to increase, and by now, may have met or exceeded the obligation threshold.
Notwithstanding the threshold, as a matter of law, the President has full discretionary authority to adjust the cost-share. Therefore, I urge you to exercise your authority under the Stafford Act to provide necessary relief for those continuing to struggle in the aftermath of this historic natural disaster.
In addition, I urge you to grant Iowa’s request for 100 percent reimbursement for emergency protective measures and for 90 percent reimbursement for debris removal. Thank you for your consideration of these urgent requests.
Congress is expected to debate $10.1 billion in proposed disaster aid when it returns to Washington this month.
Besides coming just before her Iowa visit, Pelosi’s letter came one day after Culver called the federal response to the floods too slow and demanded the federal government release disaster-related funding immediately.
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