My Weekly Column
American farmland is some of the most fertile and bountiful in the world. Despite derechos and droughts, nothing obstructs the resilience of our farmers. Our producers work long hours to grow the food and produce the fuel that our families and communities depend on. From cattle feed to homegrown ethanol and biodiesel, Iowa corn and soybeans lower prices at the pump, end our reliance on foreign oil, and support the vitality of the rural communities surrounded by these grains for months out of the year.
Iran has a long and repulsive history of funding terrorism, including the recent attacks by Hamas against the innocent people of Israel. In 1984, Iran was rightfully named a state sponsor of terrorism by the United States and, to this day, continues to finance terror, murder, and crime across the Middle East and around the globe. For decades, Iran has funded terrorist plots by Hamas, Hezbollah, and other despicable organizations to destabilize nations, kill innocent people, and sow division.
On Friday, October 6th, the world watched in horror as Hamas terrorists launched an all-out assault on Israel. Terrorists parachuted into a music festival killing hundreds of innocent people, broke into homes murdering entire families, and in one of the most gruesome displays of evil, murdered innocent babies. The details are sickening, but we cannot turn a blind eye to the atrocities that Hamas has committed and continues to inflict on the innocent people of Israel. The truth must be widely known.
President Biden has abandoned and punished our farmers on every front imaginable. His new WOTUS rule invites federal bureaucrats to saddle Iowa farmers with costly red tape, his electric vehicle mandates threaten the vitality of our biofuels industry, and his economic agenda jeopardizes longstanding provisions in the tax code to strengthen Iowa agriculture.
Over the last three years, I’ve made 226 trips to farms, schools, businesses, police departments, workforce training centers, cooperatives, ethanol plants, and food pantries on my biannual 36 County Tour. At each stop, I have had meaningful conversations with Iowans about their policy priorities at the federal level and real discussions about how we can work together to deliver real results for our families, farmers, small businesses, and rural communities.
Roughly three months after our country exceeded $32 trillion in debt, we have surpassed another grim milestone and broken another unfortunate record. Our national debt has officially eclipsed $33 trillion, which is now the highest debt burden in American history. To put this figure into perspective, every single American – all 340 million of us – shoulders nearly $100,000 of this debt.
Since the beginning of his administration, President Biden has weaponized the heavy hand of government to tilt the scale in favor of policies that he supports – absent any congressional action or approval whatsoever. From his burdensome WOTUS rule on our farmers to his ridiculous plan to hike mortgage payments on responsible taxpayers to subsidize home loans for folks with low credit scores, the President has demonstrated that he will take any action necessary to advance his liberal agenda.
When I was elected to represent Iowa’s 4th Congressional District, I made a solemn promise to Iowa farmers and producers that I would be the strongest voice for agriculture and our farm families in Congress. From the Farm Bill to energy policy, I believe that the hardworking men and women who feed and fuel our country deserve a loud voice and a seat at the table when lawmakers craft legislation that impacts their livelihoods and pocketbooks.
President Biden’s economic agenda – which he has coined “Bidenomics” – has failed our families, farmers, small businesses, and rural communities by every measure possible. 61% of Americans reported living paycheck to paycheck, 71% of Americans have a negative view of the state of the economy, and gas prices continue their upward trajectory. Even more concerning, credit-car and car-loan delinquency rates are rising with American families now carrying a record one trillion dollars in credit-card debt.


