Stories

CEDAR RAPIDS — Federal officials signaled over the weekend that the next big legislative push will be an overhaul of Pres. George W. Bush’s “No Child Left Behind” educational policies. Because U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa leads the influential Health, Education, Pensions and Labor Committee, Iowans were afforded the first opportunity to speak out on the proposed changes tentatively announced only 24 hours earlier.

Reforming the nation’s health care system is only one of President Barack Obama’s goals, and if conservatives can kill it they can stall other legislative aims, namely immigration reform, U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Kiron, said in an interview with the American Family Association’s news division.
King said if Democrats are successful in passing health care reform, [...]

Legislation to reform the program designed to provide assistance to nuclear workers suffering illnesses related to exposure to radiation and toxic substances continues to languish in the U.S. Senate.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, who campaigned in Iowa on behalf of Barack Obama, says he has returned to the state “for another learning opportunity.”
“The people of this state have taught me that no matter how improbable the task, I learned that it can always get underway with a start in Iowa,” he said.
Noting that [...]

Americans continue to grow more skeptical of the threat of global climate change, with a new Gallup poll showing that nearly half of all Americans believe the threat is exaggerated.
According to the poll, 48 percent of the population considers the seriousness of climate change to be “generally exaggerated” — up from 41 percent last year [...]

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., has said he can deliver votes from his fellow Republicans to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, just as long as the trials for terrorism suspect Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and the other Sept. 11 conspirators are held in military commissions and not civilian courts.
But while U.S. Sen. Chuck [...]

Iowa-based nonprofit American Future Fund is launching a $900,000 television campaign in the districts of 18 Democratic members of Congress who voted in favor of health care reform legislation in November.
The ads decry the “massive spending” and “backroom deals” in the legislation and quote President Barack Obama’s “lipstick on a pig” comments during the 2008 [...]

After being outmatched by John McCain on national security in the 2008 presidential primary, Mitt Romney hopes to capitalize on the issue in 2012.

If anyone doubted the willingness of the White House to stick its neck out for health care reform this year, President Obama likely put those questions to rest Wednesday afternoon. Speaking at the White House to promote his newly tweaked reform proposal, the president rejected the Republicans’ “tinker around the edges” approach, instead calling on [...]

“As I have said, we have bent over backwards the last year and a half to get Republican ideas, amendments, suggestions and now have held this summit [Thursday]. So, I think the time has come. I think the ball is in the Republican’s court,” said U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin.