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.
Dave Loebsack is spending a little time on political tasks, attending Labor Day picnics Monday and the Democratic convention last week, but he said the flooding earlier this summer in eastern Iowa made his convention trip a short one.
“I didn’t get out to Denver until Tuesday afternoon” because of flood work in the district, Loebsack told Iowa Independent, “and even when I was out there I was mostly talking about the flood.” He said Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer met with Iowans in Denver and are now fully supportive of the relief package.
Congressman Dave Loebsack addresses Labor Day crowd in Iowa City.
Before a partisan union crowd in Iowa City, Loebsack had strong words for the Republican ticker. “I think Obama has it right in his speech” at the convention, said Loebsack. “It’s not that John McCain doesn’t care, but he really is pretty clueless about a lot of these things. He doesn’t see the world the way we see it.”
“We’ve got to have laws that help people become the best they can become,” said Loebsack. “Barack Obama gets that, and John McCain doesn’t. Joe Biden gets it, and Sarah Palin doesn’t.”
Loebsack repeated predictions he has made earlier that Democrats can expect gains in the House and a five to six seat gain in the Senate. “We’ve passed bill after bill after bill which will help working people, including the Employee Free Choice Act, which passed the House,” said Loebsack. The labor-supported bill failed in the Senate and would have faced a certain veto by President Bush. “The problem is who the President is. If we have enough of a majority, some Republicans will come on board — but only if Barack Obama is President of the United States.”
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