Priorities

Iowans are struggling to make ends meet, paying too much for what we need just to get by. Utility bills are increasing at the highest rate in years; the average Iowan is paying thousands more a year in rent, mortgage payments, and other housing costs compared to five years ago; health insurance premiums and prescription prices continue to skyrocket; and the cost of groceries and everyday goods keeps rising. 

Mariannette Miller-Meeks is making things worse because she puts her special interest and corporate donors ahead of us. She makes sure that they profit, and we pay for it.

Miller-Meeks has voted five times for the disastrous tariffs that are costing Iowa families $2,400 more each year. These tariffs are crushing our farmers too.

Miller-Meeks voted for an extreme budget that will increase new mortgage payments by more than $1,000 per year on average. That budget also explodes the national debt by $4 trillion, which increases the amount we pay in interest on that debt. That means higher taxes for us right now, and higher taxes for the next generation too.

Miller-Meeks voted to cut clean energy projects in Iowa, which will increase Iowa utility bills by $345 per year and cut hundreds of good-paying Iowa jobs.

Miller-Meeks voted to kick more than 100,000 Iowans off their health care and to increase premiums and health care costs for everyone else.

Miller-Meeks voted against letting Medicare negotiate with the drug companies for lower drug prices and against the bill that capped the cost of insulin at $35 a month for our seniors.

You have to ask yourself why she would vote this way.  The answer is pretty simple – she does what her big money donors want. In fact, she voted against capping the price of insulin on the same day that she took thousands in campaign contributions from a group of insulin manufacturers.

Miller-Meeks sold us out. She is for the corporations and Washington special interests, not for us.

Tackling the high cost of living and lowering prices will be my top priority in Congress.  I’ll fight to lower costs by:

• Exercising Congress’s power to end the disastrous tariffs that are one of the biggest tax increases in American history and have left Iowans to pay thousands per year in higher costs
• Prohibiting hedge funds and private investors from buying up Iowa’s family homes and land and artificially raising rents
• Building and rehabilitating more housing to make it affordable for every Iowan to find a safe place to live
• Lowering prescription drug prices by allowing Medicare to negotiate for lower prices on more lifesaving drugs and capping insulin costs at $35 per month for everyone
• Cracking down on utility monopolies and expanding Iowa’s clean energy economy to lower energy bills
• Cracking down on corporate price gougers and their corrupt anti-competitive practices that are jacking up costs on groceries, everyday goods, and farming inputs like fertilizer and seed
• Growing Iowa’s economy to increase jobs and wages

I am running for Congress because I believe that if America stands for anything, it is that every person who works hard should have the freedom to reach their own potential and shape their own destiny. I believe in our founding fathers’ emphatic rejection of a king and their commitment to protecting individual freedom through the rule of law. And I believe in a Constitution that does not concentrate power in the wealthy and well-connected, but divides power among us equally to elect representatives of our choosing to a body called the United States Congress. After a 26-year career at the University of Iowa law school teaching Iowa's young people about the U.S. Constitution and our democracy, I feel a profound responsibility to defend these values. 

Sadly, many members of Congress have forgotten what our government is supposed to be about. Politicians like Mariannette Miller-Meeks routinely vote to put their political party ahead of our country, and their wealthy donors and corporations ahead of hardworking people. They’ve put political partisanship, self-promotion, and personal profit ahead of us. From chaotic tariffs to skyrocketing health care costs to federal officials acting above the law, politicians like Miller-Meeks have failed us. No wonder people of all political beliefs have lost faith in our government. 

I am running for Congress to restore that faith – the faith that our government can once again work for the American people. 

Congress is beset not only by extreme partisanship, but also by the corrupting influence of money and special interests that deprive citizens of real representation. My opponent is a prime example. You can draw a straight line from campaign contributions Miller-Meeks has taken from special interests and corporations to the votes she has taken against everyday Iowans. 

Just follow the money. She has taken nearly $350,000 from the pharmaceutical industry, nearly $300,000 from the insurance industry, more than $200,000 from the oil and gas industry, and over $1.3 million from Wall Street – and then voted their way time and time again. Every day that Miller-Meeks has been in Congress, she has worked to maximize profits for those industries and the billionaires who run them, while driving up costs for Iowans. She voted against capping the price of insulin for our seniors on the same day that she took a campaign contribution from insulin manufacturers. She voted against letting Medicare negotiate for lower prices on many lifesaving drugs. She voted against extending ACA tax credits, causing monthly health insurance premiums to skyrocket – in order to pay for the biggest billionaire tax giveaway in our history. She has voted against holding Wall Street accountable for fraud and abuse against working people. And she voted with Big Oil to cut renewable energy projects right here in Iowa, increasing our local utility bills and cutting hundreds of good-paying jobs.   

There’s a word for that, and that word is corruption. 

It’s time we put our Constitution over corruption, and people over corporations.     I take no corporate PAC money. In Congress, I will reject the corrupting influence of money and special interests, and I will always put Iowans first. 

We must also pass real ethics reform for government officials and politicians. Year after year, we see the revolving door turn. In office, politicians spend years voting to reward their donors, while living it up in Washington – trading stocks, diverting taxpayer dollars and campaign funding to their family members, and flying first class while their constituents can’t afford to travel. Then after they leave office, they cash in even further. Over the past 15 years, more than 350 outgoing members of Congress have become lobbyists; in one recent year alone, more than half of departing members joined the lobbying industry. And to protect themselves from scrutiny, they insist on regulating themselves, writing their own rules full of loopholes, and restricting investigations into wrongdoing.

We’ve had enough.  

We must put a stop to this endless cycle by passing tough ethics reform that will force our elected leaders to fight on behalf of their constituents rather than the special interests and donors they currently serve.

In Congress, I will fight to:

• Ban the trading of stocks by all Members of Congress, Executive Branch Members, Supreme Court Justices, their spouses, and staff – including requiring divestment of currently-owned stocks
• Pass a constitutional amendment to reverse the Citizens United decision and block unlimited corporate and billionaire spending on campaigns
• Institute term limits and age caps
• Ban personal use of Congressional office budgets
• Create a truly independent Congressional Ethics Agency with the power to investigate members for wrongdoing, so members of Congress no longer get to regulate themselves
• Ban pay to all Members of Congress, Executive Branch Members, and their staff during shutdowns, with all such income used to pay down the national debt
• Permanently ban all Members of Congress, their families, and their staff from becoming lobbyists, including retroactively
• Ban family members from being paid by congressional members’ campaigns or official offices
• Ban Members of Congress from using taxpayer dollars for first-class and business-class air travel
• Ban the abuse of leadership PACs as a loophole to personal spending
• Institute a Code of Ethics for Supreme Court Justices

And this is just the beginning.

I have seen first-hand what our broken health care system does to the middle class. My dad worked in construction his whole life, but when he got sick, the insurance company cancelled his insurance. He paid premiums for years, but when he got too expensive for the insurance company, they just kicked him out. And once he had been diagnosed with a pre-existing condition, he couldn’t go out and get other insurance. My family lost everything trying to afford the medicine and doctors he needed to save his life. 

Mariannette Miller-Meeks voted to cut Medicaid for over 11 million Americans – including kicking more than 100,000 Iowans off their health insurance – in order to pay for the largest tax giveaway to billionaires in history. Her budget is causing hospitals and clinics in Iowa to close – from the MercyOne family medicine clinic in Ottumwa to Southeast Iowa Regional Medical Center’s labor and delivery center in Fort Madison.

She wrote her own health care plan that would let insurance companies discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions – people like my dad. Her plan would be devastating for Iowa, where cancer rates are rising faster than anywhere else in the country. About 1 in 3 people gets cancer at some point in their life, and most of them survive – but under Miller-Meeks’s health care plan, all of them could be denied coverage once they are diagnosed.

It is on health care that Miller-Meeks has failed Iowans most severely. And it is easy to see why – just follow the money. She has taken over $600,000 from the pharmaceutical and insurance industries, and voted against letting Medicare negotiate for lower drug prices. She even took money from a group of insulin manufacturers on the same day that she voted against capping the price of insulin for our seniors on Medicare. She is clearly on their side and not ours.

Our health care system is broken. We all know it.  We just need the political willpower to change it.  We must bring down the cost of health care in this country. I believe that allowing Iowans the option to buy into Medicare at any age – which will increase competition, expand choice, and bring down costs – is the best way to do it. 

I oppose forcing everyone onto Medicare, so I oppose a single-payer system. I want everyone to have health care coverage, and I want everyone to have choices. I want you to have the choice to have Medicare as your health insurance if you want it, and I want you to have private insurance as an option too. 

Medicare as an option for everyone means Iowans will no longer be stuck with only a few expensive private plans. In our rural communities, sometimes there is only one choice. That has to change. 

With Medicare as a choice, everyone will have a guaranteed affordable option. Large corporate health care companies such as Wellmark or UnitedHealth will have to compete with a reasonably-priced option and can no longer price-gouge Iowans – which will bring down premiums for everyone through greater competition.

In Congress, I will fight to:

• Immediately reverse the Medicaid cuts that will kick more than 100,000 Iowans off their health care and close rural hospitals and nursing homes
• Immediately extend the ACA tax credits fully, to lower premiums for thousands of Iowans and allow time for real health care reform 
• Allow Iowans to buy into Medicare at any age
• Cap insulin costs at $35 per month for all Americans

• Expand the number of drugs for which Medicare can negotiate lower prices and extend those lower negotiated prices to Iowans on private insurance
• Hold drug companies accountable for price gouging by imposing tougher penalties for raising prices faster than inflation
• Make prescriptions available as lower-cost generics sooner
• Expand Medicare to cover vision, dental, and hearing care
• Expand Medicare to cover home health costs for family caregivers
• Invest in more mental health care, where Iowa is severely lacking and ranks near the bottom in the country
• Recruit and retain more doctors and nurses in Iowa, especially in rural areas, by boosting training programs and incentivizing health care providers to work in rural communities

Neither of my parents graduated from high school, and I have never seen two people work harder to provide for their family. But when my dad got sick and his health insurance was canceled, my family lost everything. I owe my life – every opportunity I’ve ever had – to public schools and teachers.  It’s because of public education that I got a fair shot, and I was able to work my way through school to become the first in my family to graduate from college. 

Not so long ago, Iowa ranked number one in public education. Iowa was a national destination for young families seeking great public schools. Our public schools were not only a priority but a source of pride. They have long been the heart of our communities. 

In recent years, however, our public schools have consistently suffered from a lack of funding.  Under the Iowa voucher plan that Governor Reynolds and Rep. Miller-Meeks support, Iowa taxpayers will give a billion dollars to private schools – draining badly needed resources from our public schools and essentially defunding them. Many schools in our rural counties have already closed. 

Rep. Miller-Meeks supports not only Iowa’s voucher plan, but also a national voucher plan that is 10 times bigger than Iowa’s – diverting even more of our tax dollars away to private schools. She has verbally attacked teachers in congressional hearings and has voted for an extreme budget that would eliminate more than 100,000 teacher jobs. 

I believe our state and country should recommit to making education a priority, with a special focus on rural and small-community schools that face unique challenges. This focus on education is crucial to ensuring that our children will thrive, our economy will grow, and our nation will flourish. I support a comprehensive and historic national investment in education at every level. 

In Congress, I will fight to:

• Make Iowa number one in public education again
• Reinvest in public education at every level: pre-K and K-12 schools, community colleges and universities, and skills training and apprenticeships
• Guarantee every child access to a high-quality education by pushing for a substantial national investment in public education and school infrastructure, with a special focus on rural and small-town schools  
• Expand Career and Technical Education (CTE) so that students can find good-paying jobs in the trades or manufacturing
• Adapt education to ensure an outstanding traditional education as well as training to thrive in an era of technology and AI
• Ensure every Iowa child has access to school lunch and summer lunch so that every child can eat, and every child can learn

As the granddaughter of family farmers, I am deeply concerned about the future of Iowa’s family farms and agricultural economy. Iowa has lost 30,000 family farms because giant companies and their lobbyists are crowding family farmers out. The shift from community-oriented family farms to out-of-state corporate ownership – and putting profits over people – has been devastating to Iowa’s farming heritage, our local economy, and our rural communities.

Iowa is one of only a few states whose economy has been shrinking over the past couple of years, driven largely by a decline in agriculture. Even before the tariffs and trade wars, farmers were struggling with high input costs on seed and fertilizer brought about by Big Ag’s monopolistic practices and lack of competition. Now, the added pain of tariffs and trade wars threatens our farms to a degree not seen in many years. The war in Iran is impeding the fertilizer materials our farmers need, making things even worse. The resulting uncertainty has reduced demand for farm equipment and other agricultural products and services, resulting in layoffs at the John Deere Bettendorf plant and other local companies and ripple effects throughout Iowa’s rural economy. 

As an environmental engineer and a mother, I know that we also need to improve Iowa’s water quality, protect our natural resources, and safeguard our public health. Water pollution from nitrates, PFAS chemicals, and other contamination is increasingly widespread across the state. In some places, Iowans cannot drink the water; in others, we can’t enjoy recreation on impaired waterways.

Climate change is also a threat to our children’s future and to Iowa’s economy. Iowa farmers are being hit hard by heat, drought, and extreme weather conditions. Extreme weather is driving up homeowner and business insurance premiums and adding to already unaffordable housing costs. Some insurance providers have reduced policy coverage or chosen to leave the state altogether. Storm damage to homes, farms, and businesses is an increasing burden for our people and economy as well.

Supporting our family farms and protecting our environment are not mutually exclusive – when done right, they can work together and reinforce each other. 

Through my work as an environmental engineer, I learned that when it comes to improving water quality and protecting the environment, the government must work with farmers and business owners, not against them. At a time when our farmers are beset with skyrocketing input costs, tariffs, and trade wars, I support significant investments – not unfunded mandates – to allow immediate action on these important issues. Iowa farmers are smart and resilient. With the right resources, our farmers can enrich the soil, sequester CO2, improve our water quality, and make their crops more profitable at the same time. 

We must also bring down costs and expand markets for Iowa family farms and renewable energy producers. First, we must reverse the tariffs and trade wars that have created hardship and uncertainty for our farmers. Second, we must increase competition by taking on the Big Ag stranglehold on seed and fertilizer inputs as well as in meat and grain processing outputs. Third, passing the Farm Bill must be a top priority for any Iowa congressional representative, but the last Farm Bill expired years ago, and Rep. Miller-Meeks has failed multiple times to pass a new one. We must pass a Farm Bill now that works for Iowa’s local farmers, not giant agricultural corporations. Fourth, we must take on the corrupt practices of Big Oil – corporations that want to dominate the U.S. energy market, deny climate change, and prevent the growth of Iowa’s renewable energy economy. 

Rep. Miller-Meeks has shown time and again that she is on the side of these corporations and special interests, not on the side of Iowa farmers and American renewable energy producers. Miller-Meeks has voted five times to protect disastrous tariffs that drive up costs for farmers and threaten markets for Iowa farmers’ crops. She has repeatedly allowed the Farm Bill to expire, leaving farmers who are already being squeezed unsure of what the future holds. She voted against monitoring of PFAS “forever” chemicals in Iowa waters. She has taken more than $200,000 from the oil and gas industry, and then voted against holding big oil companies accountable for price gouging and unfair practices. She gutted Iowa’s clean energy expansion, which cut hundreds of good-paying jobs and increased our utility bills.

Iowa will never be able to support our family farms, grow our agricultural economy, clean up our water, or take action on climate change so long as Miller-Meeks is our representative in Washington DC.

In Congress, I will fight to:

• Reverse chaotic tariffs and trade wars, and actively expand markets for Iowa farmers
• Crack down on price gouging and anti-competitive practices in the agricultural industry to reduce costs of seed, fertilizer, meat and grain processing, and other costs 
• Pass a Farm Bill that provides fair crop insurance rates to protect against extreme weather
• Invest in Iowa’s clean energy economy, and make America more energy-independent with lower costs 
• Take action to reduce PFAS and other chemicals in our water
• Increase resources and incentives for farmers to boost buffer zones surrounding waterways to block pollutants 
• Increase resources and incentives for farmers to grow cover crops that reduce runoff and sequester carbon 
• Ensure the next generation of family farmers can thrive and continue our farming tradition

When I was growing up, both of my grandmothers lived with my family, and I have always believed our seniors are precious members of our families and communities. At the Statehouse, I worked on a bipartisan bill to prevent abuse against Iowa’s seniors. I worked closely with many senior organizations and learned more about the unique challenges our seniors face. I was delighted to help pass a bill to crack down on physical, emotional, and financial abuse against our elder Iowans. 

I believe our seniors deserve safety and security. That’s why I will always fight for Social Security and Medicare. Our seniors have paid into Social Security and Medicare over a lifetime of hard work. They’ve earned it. They depend on it. And we’ve got to protect it. 

Miller-Meeks represents a dangerous threat to the future of Social Security and Medicare. She has supported privatizing both Social Security and Medicare, which would put at risk the guaranteed benefits seniors have paid into. She blamed the high cost of health care on Medicare. She has even called for raising the retirement age for Social Security, which would cut benefits and force seniors to work longer, including in jobs requiring intense physical labor.

Worse, Miller-Meeks voted against allowing Medicare to negotiate for lower drug prices, against capping seniors’ out of pocket drug expenses at $2,000 per year, and against capping the cost of insulin at $35 per month for seniors on Medicare. In fact, she took a campaign contribution from a group of insulin manufacturers on the same day she voted against the insulin price cap.

Over and over again, Miller-Meeks has put the big pharmaceutical and insurance companies ahead of our seniors. 

When my dad got sick, Medicare and Social Security were lifelines for my family.  Across Iowa, I’ve met seniors who tell me just how critical Medicare and Social Security are to their survival too.  

In Congress, I’ll always: 

• Fight to protect Medicare and Social Security, and shore up the Social Security trust funds to fully fund them for future generations
• Work to stop those in Washington who seek to cut, privatize, or jeopardize these critical programs 
• Allow Iowans to buy into Medicare at any age, which would protect Iowans in their fifties and early sixties from paying outrageous health insurance premiums 
• Allow Medicare to negotiate for lower prices on more drugs so seniors and other taxpayers pay less  
• Expand Medicare to cover dental, vision, and hearing care 
• Expand Medicare to cover home health costs incurred by family caregivers

To me, freedom is being able to control your own destiny. That means the right of free speech for all regardless of your views or political beliefs, the right to protect your property from being taken by the government for corporate profit, the right to grow through education, the right to make your own health care decisions, the right to safe and healthy communities free from crime and pollution, and the right to participate in a fair and open economy in which hardworking people share in the wealth they help to create and get a fair shot to get ahead. I will always put Iowa and our freedoms first.

Our freedoms are not safe with Mariannette Miller-Meeks. She has advocated for Iowans to be punished or lose their jobs for expressing opinions with which she disagrees. She has supported allowing the government to use eminent domain to take private property for corporate use. She has voted for laws that oppress hardworking people in order to benefit billionaires. And she has been a leading voice in taking away our right to make our own health care decisions. 

Iowans suffered a shocking blow to our freedom in 2024 when Iowa imposed one of the strictest abortion bans in the country. Iowa now bans abortion at 6 weeks, before most women even know they are pregnant. As we have seen in other states with extreme abortion bans, women’s lives, health, and fertility are at risk when we can’t get the medical care we need. OB/Gyn doctors are choosing not to practice in Iowa, at a time when we were already experiencing physician shortages and birthing clinic closures. 

Miller-Meeks supported and paved the way for this very ban in our State. Then she went even further, sponsoring a nationwide abortion ban with no exceptions for rape, incest, or the life of the mother. Her abortion ban could even end IVF fertility treatments nationwide.

As we knock doors across this district to talk with voters, it’s clear that Iowans value our freedom and are sick of politicians like Miller-Meeks pushing their own dangerous agendas instead of listening to the will of the people.
When I’m in Congress, I will defend the freedoms of all Iowans, no matter what. And I will fight every day to put Roe v. Wade back into federal law where it belongs and restore reproductive freedom for all Iowans.