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Delivering results is my promise to Iowa

From our wide-open border to our struggling economy, our country is in crisis under the Biden administration. Since President Biden took office, cumulative inflation has exceeded 19%, gas prices have risen, known terrorists and millions of illegal immigrants have unlawfully crossed our border, and drug traffickers have snuck through the cracks and flooded our communities with deadly Chinese-manufactured fentanyl.

While President Biden and his agency heads have opted to ignore every crisis that they have created, I’ve worked to do my part to address the problems facing Iowa and our nation. For me, delivering results isn’t some slick campaign slogan. It’s a promise that I’ve made to Iowans to represent our values in Washington and advance priorities important to our rural communities. I promised that I would vote to finish the wall and secure our border — and I have.

I pledged that I would secure a seat on the House Agriculture Committee to be a strong voice for Iowa agriculture — and I did. I was later honored to be selected to serve on the House Ways and Means Committee where I’ve fought to lower taxes, open new export markets for agriculture, and hold countries like China, Brazil, and Mexico accountable for their unfair trade practices. These positions have allowed me to advocate for our families, farmers, businesses, and rural Iowa in a meaningful and impactful way. I don’t just complain about an issue without offering a solution.

Over the last few years, I’ve specifically worked on policies that I believe will benefit our communities and our state. That has been my approach to legislating and it will remain my approach so that we can deliver real solutions to the problems that we face — from the border crisis to our national security to our broken economy to the grave threat that China poses to our nation.

Since the beginning of last year, I’ve been working hard to write and pass a strong Farm Bill for Iowa. I’ve met with farmers and producers who are struggling with high input costs, constrained access to foreign markets, and severe and unpredictable weather. Working with the Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, I’ve taken those conversations back to Congress and introduced several pieces of legislation to strengthen the farm safety net. Representing the second largest agriculture-producing district in the nation, my bills support stronger crop insurance protections, help build the infrastructure for new export markets, and gut wasteful spending from the SNAP program.

I’ve also pushed for greater investments in foreign animal disease prevention and increased ethanol and biodiesel production. The final Farm Bill will reflect Iowa agriculture’s most vital priorities. Every year since I’ve been in Congress, I’ve also introduced legislation to honor the memory of 21-year-old Iowan, Sarah Root, who was killed by an illegal immigrant who was driving while drunk. Tragically, instead of facing justice for his crimes, the illegal immigrant exploited a loophole in federal law, posted bail, and was released from jail — never to be seen again. Sarah’s Law closes that loophole and ensures that illegal immigrants who seriously injure or kill American citizens are detained and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

I’m glad to report that Sarah’s Law recently passed the House Judiciary Committee for the first time ever as a standalone bill, and I’ll continue to work to get it signed into law. The threat that China poses to our economic, energy, and national security is another area of serious concern for me. Representing one of the largest agricultural districts in the nation, I’ve led the fight to protect our farmland from our foreign adversaries, particularly China.

That’s why — when the U.S. House of Representatives passed an energy security package — I introduced an amendment to that bill that bans China from buying American farmland suitable for homegrown energy production. Our farmland is our most valuable — yet finite — asset in rural Iowa, and I want to be sure that our land doesn’t fall into the hands of our enemies.

My amendment passed by a vote of 407 to 26, with only radical progressives opposing it. I consider that vote a major victory for Iowa and our country in the fight to keep American farmland in the hands of American farmers.

Finally, as a member of the Ways and Means Committee, I helped draft the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives by a wide margin. This legislation codifies important pro-growth tax provisions that benefit our families, farmers, and businesses and powers our economy forward. As a result of this package, our farmers will be able to finance new equipment and farmland purchases and our businesses will have additional flexibility to hire new employees and make profitable investments that keep our main streets strong. It would also support affordable housing in rural communities and help young families achieve the dream of homeownership.

With inflation rising and our national debt quickly approaching $35 trillion, the good news is that this legislation is paid-for by eliminating fraud in government programs. As a strong advocate of tax cuts and pro-growth economic policies, this investment in our families, workers, and businesses is not only good for our financial stability, but also our economic security. This list is not exhaustive, but it’s representative of the work I’m doing to bring our values to Washington. In Iowa, we believe in low taxes, a secure border, safe communities, a strong defense, and fiscal responsibility.

As your voice in Congress, these are exactly the priorities that I’m advancing so that we can make our country run more like Iowa. On June 4th, I humbly ask for your vote. With your support, we can keep delivering real results for Iowa and defend the conservative values that make our communities the best place to live, work, and raise a family.

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Randy Feenstra, a Republican from Hull, represents Iowa’s Fourth District in the U.S. House.

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