Letters to the Editor: Senators, don’t waste the opportunity to fix the big, ugly bill

Yes, Joni, we’re all going to die — someday. But do you want to be responsible for speeding that day along for many Iowans if you vote to cut Medicaid and SNAP to bankroll tax breaks for billionaires? Those who stand to lose are some of us who have personally benefited from SNAP and Medicaid at times when it was the only option available.

The budget reconciliation bill would make it even harder for millions of Americans to put food on the table and access health care, especially in rural communities. It proposes rolling back the purchasing power of SNAP benefits by freezing updates adopted in 2021, meaning recipients would be unable to afford a healthy diet. It adds punitive work requirements for both programs, unnecessary as most recipients who are able-bodied and non-elderly already work: 72% for SNAP and 92% for Medicaid. Until now the federal government has paid all administrative costs for SNAP and covered over 70% of costs for Medicaid in Iowa; this bill shifts a chunk of administrative costs for both programs to states. Iowa is required to balance its budget, so how would legislators pay for these additional costs? We know they won’t raise taxes, so they’ll likely slash benefits. One of every five Iowans (21%) accesses health care through Medicaid or CHIP and one of every 12 (8%) receives food assistance from SNAP. And when Medicaid pays less, rural hospitals, nursing homes and health centers close. 

The House passed a reckless reconciliation bill and then tossed it to the Senate to fix. Rick Morain nailed it in his June 6 column: “It’s big, but it ain’t beautiful.”  Senator Ernst and Senator Grassley, don’t waste this opportunity to fix the deeply flawed House bill. If voting no requires more courage than you can muster, at least reject any cuts that take health care and food away from Iowans who need it most — especially to finance tax breaks for the rich.

Peggy Fitch and Zach Kyman, Des Moines; Alyssa Rodriguez, Ames; Joshua Benjamin, formerly of Des Moines, now Madison, Wis.

On ICE raids and constitutional rights

Millions of Americans across the country have recently communicated their grievances with the current actions of our government, both at the state and national level. One issue, in particular, are the continuing actions by ICE across the country to round up and deport immigrants. As Americans, we all are descendants of immigrants. Immigrants have been and still are an important part of our success as a nation.

What is happening nationwide with the ICE raids is not what Americans voted for — mainly the deportation of dangerous criminals. We don’t feel the need to be “liberated” from folks that are part of our communities, who are our neighbors or even our community leaders. The argument that ICE is liberating the country is a false flag to cover up the fact that they are trampling on the rights that we all have under the Constitution — the right to due process put forth in the 14th Amendment, and the right of habeas corpus that is stipulated in Article 1, Sec. 9. These rights are for any person in the U.S., not just U.S. citizens. These rights, as guaranteed by the Constitution, have been trampled by ICE. Protesters are rightfully demanding that our government follow the Constitution and protect the rights of all individuals. We cannot allow the erosion of our constitutional protections to take place under the guise of public safety.

When enforcement becomes oppression... when due process is treated as an obstacle instead of a right, our nation has crossed a line that history books have warned us about. History confirms that authoritarian overreach rarely announces itself as tyranny.

When we suspend Constitutional rights to a few human beings, we forfeit them for all of us. All true patriots need to join in stopping this abuse of power and the Constitution.

Mary Kate Hanson, Wesley

Voting at night

The Senate planned to vote on the Billionaire Bonanza Bill starting late at night June 25.

The Big Bill contains many generous, permanent breaks for large corporations (like one for mostly Oklahoma-based oil and gas companies that increases a specific write-off) and billionaires. But most of us will not benefit from those special provisions. Instead, we will be affected far more by what the government is cutting in order to (partially) pay for those breaks.

SNAP payments will go down even though Iowa food banks cannot keep up with the current demand. Local food purchase programs were cut, hurting both school children and farmers. Enormous Medicaid cuts will cause some rural hospitals to close and services to be reduced. Medicaid helps fund over 40% of births, so pressure on OB-GYN services will be especially intense. Planned Parenthood, which offers fertility counseling, STD treatments and birth control closed its Ames clinic due to cuts. As a college student I went there because nobody ever asked if I had an assigned doctor; I got in when I needed care. Iowa has the lowest rate of OB-GYN specialists per capita already. VA staffing is being cut drastically, so vets will have less access to care. Because of its impact on the deficit, this bill will trigger some cuts in Medicare, though details have been scarce.

No wonder the Senate is voting at night; they’re hoping we won’t be watching them.

Sue Ravenscroft, Ames

Did you know?

On June 21, 1788, the United States we know today came into existence when the Constitution of the United States was ratified to replace the Articles of Confederation, a loose governing agreement adopted during the Revolutionary War. Our current government has been in place for 237 years.

The following year, 1789, we elected our first government and passed our first laws. Among the first actions was the drawing up of the Bill of Rights, the first 10 amendments to the Constitution. The new government was barely off the ground, and the founding document was changed or added to.

But this was not surprising. The founding fathers, in their arguments and discussions about the type of government we should have, made agreements they kept. The price of agreement (the new Constitution) was support for 10 amendments, the Bill of Rights, which were designed among other things, to assure we would have no kings in the United States. We had just fought, six years before, to overthrow an oppressive autocratic government, led by a hated king.

Imagine. Proud founding fathers, many key players in our independence battle, compromising, making an agreement and honoring the agreement. Compromise is not an evil word. It is the mother’s milk of a functioning democracy. It protects us from the excesses of the extreme. When we treat compromise as evil, we are subject to the extremes we see today with masked thugs spreading terror in the streets.

If only there was a lesson for today’s Congress in that bit of history.

Steve King, Algona

Make em squeal

There was a time I suppose when one unguarded, loose statement by a politician would end their career. This was so because voters were aware politicians are scripted and so any such slip is the closest you will ever get to their true attitude and opinion.

By rights Joni Ernst’s political career should end after she quipped “we are all gonna die”  in response to a heartfelt question about Medicaid. And then rubbed her constituents noses in it by grandstanding the next day in a cemetery to give her “non-apology” apology.

Her trademark phrase had been “make em squeal.” We thought that meant pigs. But now we know better. She means the people who have not taken life by the balls, as she has. She and her pub colleagues motto has become “I've got mine, good luck getting yours, but we are not helping.”

I guess when you are in a tribe, you have given up the idea of thinking for yourself.

Ron Platt, Crestland ‘59, Overland Park, Kan.

At what cost?

Gov. Kim Reynolds vetoed HF 639, which would have restricted companies from using eminent domain for projects like the proposed carbon pipelines unless they qualify as a “common carrier,” an agreement to serve the public fairly by transporting other resources such as gas for the common good. This veto illustrates the undue influence corporations like Summit Carbon Solutions have at our statehouse. It completely disregards the landowners who have been fighting across lowa, the work the House of Representatives has put in for four years to get this legislation passed, and all the lowans like folks in Southwest lowa who would be impacted by Summit’s proposed CO2 pipeline.

The governor states that, “lowa leads the nation in biofuels. We are at the forefront of turning corn into a low carbon energy — a leadership position we risk losing if we block the infrastructure that makes it possible. Other Midwestern states like Nebraska, Illinois and North Dakota are already moving forward with carbon-capture projects that would put lowa at a competitive disadvantage if this bill became law.”

To that scare tactic I would say, at what cost? We can keep investing in biofuels but it won’t help climate change and it won’t matter when we run out of water because corporations like Summit are extracting over three billion gallons each year.

The impact of CO2 pipelines goes far beyond the use of eminent domain. Thousands of lowans, across party lines, oppose the proposed CO2 pipeline because they:

• Are dangerous and potentially deadly.
• Would extract over three billion gallons of water per year.
• Use technology that has consistently failed to reduce carbon emissions.
• Rely heavily on and are propped up by taxpayer dollars.

We must keep working together to stop the CO2 pipeline to protect the people and places we love.

Patricia Fuller, CCI Action Member, Council Bluffs

Out of touch

America is currently biting the dust with strife like we have not seen since the Civil War.

Meanwhile, the good guys are standing on the sidelines with their hands in their pockets.

Corporate America just keeps cranking out absurdly out-of-touch commercials where everybody is all smiling, singing and dancing.

Churches keep on inviting people to believe in the afterlife, ignoring what is going on in this life.

I thought corporate capitalism was supposed to solve all our problems with its trickle-down economics. I thought Jesus was the answer to everything from peace to justice.

Turns out these two institutions have fallen badly out of touch with reality. Today their leaders can be found hiding under a rock counting their piles of gold.

Kimball Shinkoskey, Woods Cross, Utah