Iowa City, IA – Today, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced his department is working on a plan to “provide an additional $20 billion in financing for Argentina” for a total bailout of $40 billion dollars. This plan is yet another serious blow to Iowa farmers, after chaotic tariffs pushed China to buy its soybeans from Argentina rather than the United States. This massive bailout is directly hurting Iowa farmers – it props up Argentina’s failing economy and enables it to cut export taxes on the soybeans it sells to China. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks voted for the tariffs three separate times, directly harming Iowa’s soybean farmers while jacking up costs for Iowa families. Now, she is silent and complicit as the United States plans to give $40 billion in hard-earned taxpayer dollars to help another country take away Iowa’s largest soybean market. 

“Miller-Meeks’s time in Congress has been great for Argentina but disastrous for Iowa,” said Christina Bohannan. “No wonder Miller-Meeks says she’ll hold town halls ‘when hell freezes over.’  If she faced Iowans, she would be forced to explain why she has sold out Iowa farmers, increased costs for working families, cut our health care, and supported spending taxpayer dollars to bail out another country’s corrupt government. Enough is enough. It’s time someone put Iowa first.”

###

Iowa’s 1st Congressional District contains the cities of Davenport, Iowa City, Burlington, and Indianola. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks faces a rematch against Christina Bohannan, who came within 0.2% of defeating the incumbent in 2024. Bohannan lost by just 799 votes out of 413,000 and outperformed the top of the ticket by over 8 points – more than any other Red-to-Blue candidate in the country. National forecasters, including the Cook Political Report, universally rate this district as a Toss-Up for 2026. With Rep. Miller-Meeks showing historic weakness at just 31% favorability and facing growing opposition even within her own party, Bohannan has the best opportunity to flip a Republican seat in the country.