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WEEK IN REVIEW
Dear Friend,
Every day, men and women across Iowa, and the United States, wake up and go to work in the midst of COVID-19. My colleagues and I took some time this week to thank our essential workers who keep our healthcare system, food supply, and economy running.
Click here or on the image above to watch the video.
These men and women our moms and dads, brothers and sisters are putting the livelihoods of their fellow Americans ahead of their own. Each and every morning, despite the pandemic, they wake up and go to work. That’s why I’m fighting to provide these essential, front line workers tax relief. Click here to read more about my proposal.
Assistance for Iowa’s Pork Producers, Meat Processing Plants
These are especially tough times for our farmers, producers, and those in Iowa’s ag community. Our producers are facing difficult and devastating decisions that can lead to them literally throwing out their livelihoods, and now, more than ever, we must protect the safety of our workers and the integrity of our food supply.
This week, in a letter to Vice President Mike Pence the head of the White House Coronavirus Task Force I joined Senator Chuck Grassley, along with Governor Kim Reynolds and Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig, in urging for immediate additional support from the administration for the state’s pork producers, processing plant workers, and the entire food supply chain.
KWWL-TV in Iowa City covered the letter in which we urge the vice president to “utilize every authority available to keep plants open, and to re-open closed facilities as soon as is it possible to do so.”
Click here or on the image above to watch KWWL’s segment.
On Tuesday night, heeding my calls, the president took action to support Iowa’s pork industry. Radio Iowa reported on the president’s executive order, and noted that I “emphasized that the plants should adhere to CDC and OSHA guidelines” to protect the health and safety of Iowa’s workers.
Carroll Times Herald: Ernst has backs of rural newspapers, local broadcasters
With local reporting and access to information critical amid the COVID-19 pandemic, I joined a bipartisan effort in calling for support for Iowa’s newspapers, television and radio stations.
Doug Burns, editor of the Carroll Times Herald, noted my efforts, saying in an editorial:
The senator’s daily local media diet is replicated by other Iowans who tune in to dozens of radio stations and read more than 250 newspapers across the Hawkeye State, Ernst said in an interview with the Times Herald in which she advocated aggressive federal efforts to rescue local media from the weight of crushing losses of advertising revenue during the Great Shuttering, the nation’s response to the COVID-19 outbreak.
“If I want to know what’s going on in my community, where I can go to volunteer, maybe what group is holding a benefit fundraiser, whatever it might happen to be, or maybe what the new hours are for the local grocery store so that seniors can go in early and pick up the supplies they need and not be as vulnerable, that’s where you turn to,” Ernst said. “You’re going to go to your local newspapers; you’re going to go to your local radio station and those are the real heroes out there.”
The Republican senator on April 23 joined a bipartisan coalition of 74 U.S. senators in calling for extension of federal forgivable loans to local media and for federal agencies to spend advertising dollars for public-service announcements in local newspapers, radio and TV on such matters as U.S. Department of Agriculture programs for farmers and small town businesses, information on how Iowa businesses can get involved in bidding for government contracts and, most urgently, where to get the life-and-death facts on public-health concerns.
Getting More Iowans Access to Relief Payments
We need to ensure all Iowans have access to relief and support during this difficult time.
After learning that the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) gave select individuals only an extremely short deadline to file extra paperwork in order to receive their additional $500 per qualified dependent this year, I’m working with a bipartisan group of my colleagues to fix the issue and allow more Iowans to get access to COVID-19 relief payments.
To read my full letter urging the government to explore options to allow folks to get these payments, click here.
My Eighth Telephone Town Hall
As we work through this pandemic, I’m continuing to hear directly from Iowans across the state whether that’s through telephone town halls or question and answer sessions so I can continue making your voices heard.
This week, I held a joint telephone town hall with fellow member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, Senator John Thune (R-SD). We took questions and heard directly from Iowans in the Siouxland region and other parts of northwest Iowa. Thanks to everyone who joined!
For more updates on what's happening in Washington, D.C. and Iowa, be sure to 'Like' my Facebook page, follow me on Twitter @SenJoniErnst, and subscribe to my YouTube channel.
Thank you!
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