Iowa Republicans like Kim Reynolds and Rod Blum have been in lockstep behind Donald Trump’s anti-worker agenda, including the Trump tax scam that puts corporate executives over workers, chaotic economic policies that hurt rural families, and continued health care sabotage that makes it even harder for struggling rural communities and families to get ahead. Here’s a look at a few ways the Republican agenda is disproportionately leaving Iowa’s rural communities behind:

Despite Republicans’ repeated promises that the Trump tax bill will benefit workers, real wages for workers actually decreased since the law was enacted.

Vox: “And between the first and second quarters of 2018 — after the tax cuts were enacted — real wages fell by 1.8 percent.”

Iowa Republicans supported the Trump tax scam even though it could raise taxes on family farmers and result in lower agricultural production and disproportionally affect local economies.
 

New York Times: “New analyses of the tax law by economists at the Department of Agriculture suggest it could actually lower farm output in the years to come and effectively raise taxes on the lowest-earning farm households, while delivering large gains for the richest farmers.”

The GOP’s continued health care sabotage undermines protections for Iowans with pre-existing conditions and threatens critical funding for hospitals and clinics that are already struggling under Reynolds’ Medicaid mismanagement and budget cuts.

The Wall Street Journal: “The Trump administration is pushing the process ahead. It has asked a court to strike down parts of the ACA, including coverage guarantees for people with pre-existing health conditions. It recently froze money that insurers count on to help offset more expensive customers.”

Cedar Rapids Gazette: “Privatization of the state’s Medicaid program, a move made unilaterally by Branstad and now championed by Reynolds, has resulted in numerous payment delays to health care providers, pushing some to the brink of closure. A clinic in Colfax is the latest to sound the alarm.”

Cedar Rapids Gazette: “The University of Iowa’s dental college has closed the door to taking any new Medicaid-covered patients due to low payments and confusing rules spawned by the move to managed care.”

The partisan House Farm Bill that Rod Blum voted for puts billionaires over family farmers and guts important investments in rural development.

AgMag: “Instead, the House farm bill actually cuts funding for rural development by more than $500 million, at a time when the economic divide between urban and rural America is growing.”

The Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to retroactively award more than $33 million in RFS waivers to corporations creates markets confusion for Iowa’s biofuel industry.

Reuters: “The agency has historically been closed-fisted with the exemptions but has awarded an unusually high number under the administration of President Donald Trump. It now appears to be taking measures to compensate for denials made by the agency during the administration of President Barack Obama.”