The Press asks: What can our senator do for our region?

By Chris Baldus, cbaldus@charlescitypress.com

The Charles City Press on Tuesday put the question of what Sen. Charles Grassley can do for our region to local officials.

Grassley will be in town Thursday to host a town hall from 10-11 a.m. at the Floyd County Courthouse. Below are the responses the Press received in time to today’s edition. If more come in today, we’ll share them in the Thursday edition.

The executive director of the Charles City Area Development Corp., Tim Fox, offered three suggestions.

“1.  Work to remove barriers to Iowa exports, in particular in the agricultural commodities sector.

“2.  Fully fund programs operated by USDA Rural Development. These may be the only access smaller towns have to community betterment as compared to CDBG entitlement cities

“3.  Keep the Work Opportunity Tax Credit [WOTC] intact.”

Regarding commodities exports, Grassley emailed a new release on Feb. 14 about being part of a group meeting with President Donald Trump’s top trade advisor, Peter Navarro.

“I pointed out that U.S. agriculture is often the first target when countries retaliate against the United States on trade,” Grassley said. “Just today, there were headlines about plans for a bill in Mexico directing Mexico to stop buying American corn in favor of corn from Brazil and Argentina. This is reported to be in response to Administration policies.  

“All of us looking at new trade deals or renegotiating prior trade deals need to have our eyes open and consider that U.S. agriculture is generally a major exporter. Anything that restricts export markets for U.S. farm products very likely means lost income for Iowa farmers and ag workers.

“It’s also important to remember that it’s not just multilateral agreements like the Transpacific Partnership Agreement that need congressional approval. Bilateral agreements have to go through Congress, too. If the president can negotiate better deals for the United States, I’m all for it, but I don’t want to see anything that hurts major sectors of the economy, like agriculture.”

Floyd County Democratic Party Chair William Baresel voiced concern about health issues.

“Floyd County residents are frightened that Sen. Grassley will destroy Medicaid by slashing its federal funding,” Baresel said. “Republicans are proposing changing Medicaid funding to a block grant system.This system will cut funding and care. Many voters supported Republicans in the last election because of promises that Medicaid would be protected.

“Sen. Grassley votes with his party on every issue. In the past eight years, he lied to the public about Affordable Care Act death panels and supports the privatization of Social Security whenever the issue is presented. He always follows the Republican Party on these health issues. Based on his record, he will support his party over the elderly that rely on Medicaid to live. Floyd County needs someone to protect Medicaid.”

The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that 23 percent of Charles City’s population is 65 years old or older.

The county chairman of the Floyd County Republican Party was also sent an email inquiry.

Charles City Community Development Director Mark Wicks, who manages Charles City Community Revitalization and is the Chamber of Commerce executive director, has concern about labor law.

“The biggest thing we are keeping an eye on is the new overtime regulations that are currently under appeal,” he said. “Our employees would not be able to work more than 40 hours a week without being paid overtime, which non-profits can’t afford. And any ‘comp time’ would have to be used within that same pay period. That would mean after weekend events our staffers would not be able to work that many hours the rest of that next week.”

Charles City Schools Superintendent Dr. Dan Cox said, “I’d be curious to hear Senator Grassley defend his vote to approve Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education. I hope he addresses ESSA, Title I funding,  etc.”

DeVos, a billionaire Republican donor, has been vilified by her critics during the confirmation process as an enemy of public education for her many years of promoting charter and private schools, The Associated Press reports.