Health Care & Prescription Drug Prices

We are one of the only industrialized nations without guaranteed, universal health care. If we really are a district that values the dignity of life, we would prioritize the implementation of universal health care. Our rural hospitals are at risk of closure, something that Medicare for All would help to solve. With Medicare for All, we could see any doctor we wanted to see, instead of having to go far out of the way for “in-network” treatment. Additionally, a Medicare for All system would help alleviate crippling medical debt that hinders our independence to live the lives we deserve.

It is clear our current prescription drug pricing model is not working for Iowans. Fixing this and making it possible for our people to access the medications they need to live their lives will be a top priority. It is unconscionable that Big Pharma has the ability to hike up the prices for prescription drugs that people rely upon, without regard for their well-being or ability to pay those prices. Within a Medicare for All framework, we would allow Medicare to negotiate better prescription drug prices. While we are working towards Medicare for all, we need to continue to strengthen the Affordable Care Act. While the act has done plenty of good things, we still have burdensome deductibles and other concerns we need to prioritize resolving.

Every Iowan should have affordable access to all necessary health care services and affordable prescription drugs.

Every Iowa Family should have access to quality, affordable child care.

Support for Children & Families

We need to continue to fight for affordable, accessible child care and a continuation of the Child Tax Credit monthly pay out program. The program that was implemented in 2021 lifted 3 million children out of poverty. We also severely underpay our child care workers. We should appropriately compensate care-givers to draw more of our best and brightest into the field. This would help address child care availability issues, which is a big problem in the 4th district. Hundreds of thousands of Iowans live in child care deserts, which suppresses the ability of households to gain financial independence and to live the lives they want. We should also be funding grant programs in these and other high-need industries to provide for education/training/start up costs to help people meet regulatory requirements so we can safely fill availability and accessibility gaps quickly.

Funding our Public Schools

We need to pay our teachers more to attract and retain quality educators so we can provide our children with the educational opportunities they deserve. Iowa ranks as low as 46th in the nation for starting teacher pay. We need to embrace and be grateful for our teachers, in word and in deed. We also need to ensure each school is provided with the resources they need to provide for those who have disabilities. Teachers should be empowered to teach an accurate history of our nation. We can not shy away from our history, as those that do are doomed to repeat it. We also need to prioritize anti-bullying education efforts and drive accountability in this space so our students and teachers have a safe environment. Again, if we truly are going to be a district that respects the unconditional value of life, we should be paying our teachers commensurate with the impact they have on the future of our community and our nation.

We need to fund Iowa schools and provide adequate pay, resources and support to our teachers.

Mental health care and addiction treatment services should be treated as a medical necessity.

Support for Mental Health & Addiction Services

We have long had a problem in Iowa regarding our lack of mental health and addiction treatment services. With all Iowans learning to navigate life during a pandemic on top of the already existing stressors we face, it is time to re-evaluate how we treat and fund mental health services. I will prioritize bolstering our mental health and addiction treatment capacity to protect our citizens. I will also fight for federal legislation making it harder for corporations that sell opioids to avoid legal consequences for knowingly disseminating their product in a harmful way. In addition, we need to treat addiction/drug use like a medical condition and not a crime. When people fear legal repercussions, they are far less likely to seek the help they need.

Jobs, Wages, and Financial Independence

Financial stress often makes it harder for us to raise our children the way we would like to, increases mental health issues, and prevents us from pursuing the lives we wish to live. Per the USDA, rural communities have not seen as much success in recovering from the Great Recession as urban areas have. This is not simply attributable to the fact that there’s a higher rate of retirees per capita in rural areas. As such, it is important to advocate for the revitalization of our rural communities. We need to continue to prioritize programs to revive main-street districts, funded by grants. We will also work to spur job creation in the 4th district, by prioritizing infrastructure improvements like high speed internet so Iowans have access to expanded work-from-home job opportunities. Future Ready Iowa is a great example of a governmental program that can facilitate partnerships between businesses and local communities to create job training and career opportunities.

We also need to fight back against the ever-increasing consolidation of power in the hands of a few large agricultural corporations that leads to negative downstream impacts for our rural communities and economies, by promoting competition in ag so our smaller scale farmers have a fighting chance.

I will also fight for a federally-mandated living wage. It is not acceptable that any Iowan can work 40 hours per week and still not be able to pay for basic needs. Additionally, I will fight for unions and place focus on workplace safety.

We are also on the wrong side of history when it comes to federally-protected paid family leave. Our people shouldn’t be unsupported in this space as they are looking to create and support their families.

We also need to foster a financial independence mindset for our people. To do this, housing needs to be more affordable and accessible, as we’re seeing rent inflation as corporate landlords are becoming more common. We’re also dealing with a supply-and-demand crisis when it comes to homeownership, as supply chain and other issues are hindering the building of new homes, and crushing medical, college, and credit card debt is making it harder for our younger people to buy homes as first time homeowners. The citizens of our district want to be financially independent and are willing to put in the work to make that happen, but there are too many barriers to entry that I will work to address. While some prefer to rent, many wish to own their homes to build their financial independence and have been working hard to build their savings to make this happen. They deserve our help. A district with more financially independent citizens will help bolster our ability to fight back against power consolidation and anti-democratic efforts.

Iowans deserve more support in their pursuit of financial independence without having to leave our district.

Iowans deserve accessible voting for candidates who are not beholden to corporate interests.

Protecting our Democracy

When Iowans go to cast their votes, we should guarantee their voices will be heard, their voting access will not be hindered in undemocratic ways, and that the candidates on the ballot are not bought by corporate interests and lobbyists. Our democracy is teetering on the brink. I will fight for federal legislation to protect voting rights and for campaign finance reform to ensure there’s not undue corporate influence on our elections. I will seek to protect our public servants and make sure we bring harsher penalties to those that make threats of violence against them. I will also fight for federal legislation to bring harsher penalties for government officials that knowingly disseminate misinformation that damages the respect and integrity of our elections. I will fight for reform preventing elected and appointed government officials from engaging in stock market activities beyond managed retirement accounts to prevent undue corporate influence in our democratic processes.

Taking Care of our Veterans

We’ve long failed our military vets when it has come to their health care, housing access, and other needs. Randy Feenstra recently voted No in January 2022 on HR4673, which would have automatically signed up eligible military veterans with their consent into the VA health care program. Despite Feenstra’s lack of support, the bill passed through the House, which will save vets time and stress when applying for the VA benefits they earned, as well as provide education on what benefits are available to them. Over 160 house Republicans voted no on this common sense legislation. Another priority here would be addressing gaps in VA care so our veterans are better protected.

We need to remove red-tape that hinders our vets from accessing all of the benefits they have earned.

We need to balance the needs of our economy, our resources and communities so Iowa’s agriculture can continue to thrive.

Competition and Sustainability in Agriculture

I support the USDA efforts through SAS and other programs to promote innovation in sustainable agriculture, to ensure we do our best to support our farmers while not abusing our natural resources. We need to address the environmental impact of CAFO-style agriculture. Communities should be empowered and have a voice in the placement of CAFO facilities that impact home values and pose other risks to the health of communities nearby. I will advocate for easier access to and incentivization to use modernized tools and processes that will enable a higher level of water and air pollution capture from our farms. We need to balance the needs of our economy, our environmental resources and the quality of life Iowans deserve.

Additionally, for decades, the consolidation of power in the hands of a few big ag corporations has led to a decline in the ability of our family and smaller scale farmers to thrive. Under the Trump Administration, Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue endorsed this trajectory as an acceptable and satisfactory outcome. However, I am not OK with the downstream negative impacts that would come from this end game, such as the hoarding of land ownership in the hands of a few, the degradation of our local economies as main street suffers from the resultant dwindling consumer base, the diminished ability of our homeowners to capitalize on the wealth in their homes as homebuyers decide not to live in our smaller communities, the inevitable creation of a new food supply chain that would become more vulnerable to disruption, and at some point, the arrival at a point of no return where we can no longer adequately push back against Big Ag in demanding environmentally-conscious agricultural processes.

Advocating for All Iowans

We need to address the racial disparities that exist in our state when it comes to policing and imprisonment. People of Color face up to a 7x higher likelihood of arrest for marijuana possession than whites in Iowa, even though People of Color and whites use marijuana at similar rates. I am in favor of legalizing marijuana to help address this issue. I will advocate for restrictions on the types of offenses that justify a legal traffic stop, and of the types of situations in which law enforcement officers can initiate high speed chases that endanger innocent bystanders. We also need to support People of Color as they pursue the lives they wish to live, free of discrimination in education, employment, housing, voting, health care, and in our public spaces.

I am also an advocate for our LGBTQ+ community, a community that is at a higher risk of violence and discrimination. We are seeing an emphasis on social wedge issues that distract from what we really should be trying to accomplish, and the LGBTQ+ community often bears the brunt of these efforts.

Additionally, women face a higher risk of domestic violence in Iowa than the national average, and our state notoriously ill-equips our women with the legal protections they deserve.

We also need to do a better job protecting our children, in such ways as adequately funding our child protective services.

We also need to end private prisons, as it creates a harmful incentivization of imprisonment of our people.

Many in our district suffer from mental health struggles that make them vulnerable in a variety of ways. I’ve already mentioned our need to increase access to services here, but we also need to empower our law enforcement officers with the training and support they need to properly respond to mental health calls.

There’s much to be done here, and I look forward to getting to work.

We need to protect our at-risk communities.

Iowans deserve to feel safe in their homes, schools, workplaces, and public spaces.

Public Safety Concerns

Gun violence is a uniquely American issue, and is one we have the collective will to resolve.  Polls continue to show there is broad support for reasonable gun control legislation, such as universal background checks, closing gun show loopholes, enacting red flag laws to keep guns out of the hands of those who have shown an increased risk of violent tendencies, limiting magazine capacity, expanding mental health services, requiring gun owners to notify educational or legal authorities if anyone in the household exhibits a clear trend of violent tendencies, etc.  I will support such efforts, not just for the safety of our people, but to also lift the burden that relatively unfettered gun ownership has on the decisions our law enforcement officers have to make every day. I will also be mindful about trying to find the right balance between gun control efforts and protecting the privacy and rights of our citizens. For example, when it comes to red flag laws, I would advocate for a fair and proper adjudication process via our court system to put in safeguards to protect against overreach.

Climate change is threatening our very livelihoods in the district. We see the consequence in our ag sector with regularity, from unprecedented floods, derechos, droughts, and other recent impacts. We also see it in other ways in the district, as the push to lay oil and other pipelines that exacerbate the issue through our privately-owned land continues unabated. We need to prioritize a move towards clean, renewable energy sources. We need to listen to the science and to our experts, and there is a clear consensus among them that we are running out of time to address climate change. It is an existential threat. However, we also need to be proactive in our fight against grifters who are attempting to take advantage of federal tax credits aimed to mitigate human-caused climate change with false solutions like the carbon capture pipelines I’ve been fighting for years. Also, while I’m pro-wind and solar power, I’m anti-eminent domain for them, just as I’m opposed to eminent domain for the carbon capture pipelines. I’ve heard too many stories of wind and solar companies not engaging in fair dealing with citizens when attempting to place their tech. We need to hold corporate wrongdoers accountable to protect the people and to make it more likely real climate change mitigation solutions will be supported by more and more Americans.

We also need to learn lessons from the Coronavirus pandemic so we’re better prepared for the next pandemic, which the experts say is just a matter of time. Supply chain issues exacerbated by the pandemic drove inflationary pressure as we don’t have enough domestic production of vital goods and services or sufficient corporate competition to create more resilient supply chains.. The virus also impacted the consistency of our labor supply, stretched our health care providers beyond their breaking point, and forced the delay of medical services beyond COVID that led to delays in the diagnosis and treatment other severe illnesses. Additionally, many of our residents in the 4th district are immunocompromised or at higher risk due to comorbidities that make them more susceptible to severe illness and complications. As such, we need to ensure we address labor shortage issues at the root and better protect our workers during the next pandemic, and we need robust investments in science, PPE, and facilitating the entry of more nurses and doctors to help create more pandemic-resilient health care systems, while advocating for a single payer universal health care system to ease health care access and to better address comorbidities so our population is more resilient in the face of illness. We also need to prioritize developing a robust reserve of N95 and KN95 masks so Americans aren’t stuck using cloth masks that weren’t nearly as protective at the start of the pandemic. I will also advocate for updated ventilation/air purification systems in our schools and businesses so our people have the healthiest environment in which to learn and work. I will trust the latest science and will rely on our experts, and will certainly not vilify our public health officials while making sure Big Pharma has necessary accountability measures in place so more can trust future pandemic mitigation efforts.