This morning, Iowans spoke at the Iowa State Capitol about the ongoing affordability crisis caused by President Trump’s economic agenda. Watch the full event here.
Earlier in the week a new report was issued by the bipartisan Cost Coalition, Progress Iowa, and other partners that shows how Washington’s reckless economic agenda is harming Iowans. No state has been in the crosshairs of the President’s economic agenda more than the Hawkeye State, where farmers are struggling with tariffs, manufacturing continues to suffer, and Iowans are losing access to health care due to recent cuts and rising prices.
Aaron Lehman, president of the Iowa Farmers Union, said that tariffs, cuts to health care programs and other economic policies supported by Iowa’s congressional delegation are devastating to rural Iowans and family farmers.
“Program cuts, chaotic trade policies and sky high health insurance premiums have led us to a situation where our farmers are reporting that they are on the verge of a crisis,” Lehman said. “We need this administration to face up to these issues and we need our elected officials here in Iowa to tell the true story about what is happening in our rural communities. We need it to happen today.”
Iowa State Representative Dr. Megan Srinivas spoke about the impacts in store for Iowans who lose access to health care due to rising costs and increasing premiums.
“Iowans are having to make choices that nobody should have to make, between their health or feeding their families,” Srinivas said. “This isn’t the Iowa I grew up in, and it isn’t the Iowa that I went to medical school to take care of. I am a doctor because I believe everybody deserves health care and I ran for office to fight for that same right. These horrible policies are taking that right away from more people to the point that Iowans are being forced to choose between eating tonight and living tomorrow.”
Zach Mecham, a disability rights advocate and entrepreneur, spoke about how Medicaid cuts make life harder and sometimes impossible for Iowans with disabilities.
“Republicans in Washington have decided that if people like me lose their health care, it’s an acceptable loss,” Mecham said. “When Iowans with disabilities, like me, lose their health care, some of them will die. I want to be very clear about that, without my health care I cannot get out of bed in the morning, I wouldn’t have the mobility devices that allow me to move about the world, I wouldn’t be able to run my business, volunteer, or serve my community. I would go from living to surviving. I don’t think anybody deserves to live like that and frankly, I don’t think that any elected official should think that anyone deserves to live like that.”
