First In The Nation, But Last On Biden’s Priorities

Research

Biden And Democrats Far-Left Agenda Puts Iowa Farmers, Businesses, And Workers Last

BIDEN WANTS TO BUILD IOWA BACK BROKE

Today, Biden is in Menlo, Iowa to tout his radical “Build Back Broke” agenda to kick off his rural reset tour.
Meanwhile, Iowa small businesses and families are suffering under Biden and Democrats’ 40-year high inflation, shrinking paychecks and raising prices of everyday items.
Bidenflation and Biden’s supply chain crisis are especially crushing Iowa farmers.
- The prices of fertilizer and pesticides are soaring thanks to Biden.
The Biden administration does not understand the hardship Iowans are facing, as Biden’s Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm’s solution to high gas prices is to tell American families to buy a $55,000 electric vehicle.
As Biden and Democrats in Washington, D.C. drive up prices and push woke ideology, Republicans are delivering real results for the people of Iowa.

BIDENFLATION HITS IOWA

Nationally, consumer prices have risen by 8.5 percent compared to last year – marking the largest annual increase in 40 years.
- Iowa has seen costs rise faster than the national average, with consumer prices rising by 8.6 percent since last year.
Iowans are also feeling the pain at the pump under Biden, the Hawkeye State’s gas prices are up over a $1 per gallon from just a year ago.
- Diesel prices in Iowa reached a new record high last month under Biden.
Iowans are feeling the brunt of rising prices.
Boni Alimoski, owner of the Waffle & Pancake House in Muscatine: “With everything that’s going on in the world, inflation is affecting not only the bigger businesses but also small mom-and-pop shops … We’re trying, but in the end it’s always the smaller person that gets hit more than the bigger person.”
Mike Miller, president of River Bend Food Bank in Davenport: “When we started to see inflation going up, we keep seeing more and more people showing up at the food pantries.”
Ted Cochran, owner of Joy Ride Transport in Des Moines: “Unfortunately, we have passed along some of those increases to our clients, which we didn’t want to, but to be able to stay in business, we have our breaking point.”
Ray Gaesser, farmer and former Iowa Soybean Association President: “Food is going up in price for our consumers, but our inputs are going up: fertilizers double or triple what it was a year ago, fuel is double what it was a year ago. … there’s a lot of uncertainty out there today on our farm and others [about] whether we’ll be able to get everything we need in order to grow a crop and feed everybody and also feed our animals.”

BIDEN’S AGENDA HURTS IOWA FARMERS

Bidenflation and Biden’s supply chain crisis are hitting farmers hard, with historic prices for diesel, gas, and pesticides.
- Glyphosate, the active ingredient in in one of America’s most widely used weed killers, is up 300 percent in Iowa from a year ago in part because of “supply chain challenges” Biden promised to fix.
27 percent of farmers experienced difficulty purchasing crop inputs last month due to Biden’s supply chain crisis according to Purdue’s Center for Commercial Agriculture.
Inflation is squeezing farmers’ wallets, with total net farm income forecast to decrease by $9.7 billion in 2022 when adjusted for inflation.
To fund his radical “Build Back Broke” agenda, Biden has called for repealing the “step-up in basis” tax provision.
- According to the American Farm Bureau Federation, Biden’s proposal to impose this new death tax would be “devasting to American agriculture and the broader U.S. economy.”
- The Iowa Farm Bureau estimated this could cost the average family farm in Iowa as much as $680,000 in additional taxes.
- Despite Biden’s claim that his tax proposal would only affect two percent of farm operations, his own Department of Agriculture found 17 percent of small farms, 66 percent of medium-sized farms, and 80 percent of large farms would have a new tax burden with the elimination of stepped-up basis.
Biden has imposed burdensome regulations on American farmers and ranchers by expanding the federal government’s definition of the Waters of the United States (WOTUS) Rule.
- This is an overreach of federal power that allows regulators to examine “waterways” as small as a pothole or a ditch, resulting in large fines and potentially halting farming operations.
- Both the American Farm Bureau Federation and the National Cattleman’s Beef Association have spoken out against this rule expansion due to its negative effects on farmers.
- Increased regulations could place massive amounts of land under government control, with one study showing 97 percent of Iowa land could be subject to federal regulations under this rule.

BIDEN STIFLED BIOFUEL PRODUCTION AMID RISING GAS PRICES

As the regulator-in-chief, Biden has targeted America’s biofuel industry and hurt farmers in the process.
- In December 2021, Biden announced cuts to biofuel blending requirements, threatening American farmers who produce the necessary inputs for biofuels such as ethanol.
Biofuels are a key industry for Iowa, which produces more biofuels than any other state.
- The industry employs almost 46,000 hardworking Iowans and accounts for over $5 billion of Iowa’s GDP.
The Biden administration sat on almost $700 million to help biofuel producers for well beyond its promised 60-day roll out, before introducing new Renewable Volume Obligations that slashed demand for biofuels by billions of gallons.

REPUBLICANS DELVIER FOR IOWA

Governor Kim Reynolds and Iowa Republicans have delivered for all Hawkeyes – working to keep schools open during the pandemic and cutting taxes for hardworking citizens.
Reynolds is working to get Iowa back to work, bringing back jobs lost to the pandemic and lowering Iowa’s unemployment rate below the national average.
Reynolds and Iowa Republicans have stood up for parents’ right to have a say over their children’s education and have banned the divisive critical race theory from Iowa schools.
- Reynolds has also made significant investments in education, helping to provide Iowa schools with $159 million in additional funding this year.
Reynolds has also fought to expand rural access to broadband, awarding $200 million in grants to improve high-speed internet across the state.
Senator Chuck Grassley has stood up to government corruption in Washington D.C., bringing forward records of Hunter Biden’s corruption and Joe Biden’s involvement with his son’s foreign business dealings.