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.
Addressing deficit concerns at the expense of the most vulnerable Americans “doesn’t make sense fiscally, morally or economically,” according to Andrew Cannon, a research associate with the nonpartisan think tank the Iowa Policy Project.
Cannon was responding the the news that Senate Democrats were planning to pass funding to preserve teachers’ jobs and to provide much-needed Medicaid funding to states. But in order to appease Republicans who refuse to support any spending that would add to the national debt, Democrats plan to offset the spending with cuts to numerous programs, including the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps.
“Should we rob the hungry tomorrow to pay the sick today?” Cannon wrote Friday afternoon. He later added: “Deficit demagogues may be making points in Congress, but they miss the point about good recovery policy.”
From the Iowa Policy Points blog:
It’s no secret that the federal budget deficit has grown over the past decade. But the long-term deficit is primarily due to a few select causes: the Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 that heavily favored the highest earners, the deficit-financed wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the dip in tax revenues due to the recession.
Recession recovery efforts, such as the Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which included the original increase in federal Medicaid payments, add a negligible amount to the long-term deficit, while providing immediate benefits to the most vulnerable Americans and stimulating the economy. An analysis of Recovery Act provisions by Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Economy and former economic adviser to Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign, estimated that every federal dollar invested in SNAP generates $1.74 of economic activity.
An Iowa Policy Project study released in November found federal stimulus for Medicaid created a $252 million increase in the value of goods and services produced in the state during fiscal year 2009, and $114 million in income for 2,354 workers in created or saved jobs.
In February, the organization released a report that found that for every $1 million invested in food assistance programs, about 10 Iowa jobs are saved or created.
“Some federal ARRA funds, originally destined for low-income households as food assistance, in turn reach Iowa businesses in the form of boosted sales. With greater sales and profits, Iowa businesses can employ more workers and pay greater incomes to residents,” the report said.
In Iowa, a failure to pass the Medicaid funding would shoot a $121 million hole in the state’s current budget.
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