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.
Democratic elected officials are making progress, and the economy is turning around, Vice President Joe Biden told a crowd of more than 1,000 Democrats in Des Moines Saturday night.
“We have a long way to go, but I’m certain we’re on the right path,” said Biden at the Iowa Democratic Party’s annual Jefferson-Jackson fundraising dinner.
The event took place against a backdrop of sagging poll numbers for Democrats nationwide. Gov. Chet Culver’s approval rating is at an all-time low, and Iowa Democrats have reportedly grown more dissatisfied with President Barack Obama since he took office in January.
Biden seemed to address those growing concerns directly. “This is no time to be frustrated,” he said. “We never thought change would be easy. All of you knew it would be hard.”
Even though political commentators have dwelled on the slow pace of health care reform over the past several months, he said, Democrats have already made achievements that would be considered landmark in any other year — confirming Justice Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, passing the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, and withdrawing U.S. troops from major cities in Iraq, among other things.
Shortly after the event began, before Biden took the stage, Democrats in the U.S. Senate overcame a key hurdle for passing their sweeping health care reform package, winning 60 votes to begin a floor debate on the measure.
“Tonight, we have more momentum than we’ve ever had in the history of the discussion of health care in America,” Biden said.
He also told the crowd that though there is still much more work to do to turn the economy around, he expects job growth to begin early next year. (That’s good news for incumbents up for reelection in 2010, though he didn’t put it in those terms.)
Before Biden spoke, Gov. Chet Culver addressed the crowd. “I will always, always stand up to fear and injustice, and I will always make the tough decisions,” he said. “I will never, ever back down.”
Democrats also heard speeches from U.S. Reps. Bruce Braley and Leonard Boswell, who said Democrats were “combat-ready” ahead of the 2010 campaign.
U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin taped a video message for the event so that he could be in Washington, D.C., for the health care vote.
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