T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY - Rep. Randy Feenstra, left, speaks with Iowa Veterans Home Activities Assistant Jim Coppoc, right, during a visit to the facility last Wednesday.

Since I was first elected to Congress, I pledged that I would travel to all 36 counties in our district – Iowa’s 4th Congressional District – at least twice each year. From Tuesday April 22nd to Thursday April 24th, I upheld that promise by meeting with Iowans in 12 different counties, marking nearly 350 individual stops completed over the last few years. Whether I’m working on policy initiatives in Washington or traversing our district in Iowa, I will remain accessible to and transparent with Iowans, giving them a voice at the negotiating table and turning their ideas into meaningful legislative solutions.

On April 22, I began another edition of my 36 County Tour in Sheldon with a visit to Maintainer Corporation, a manufacturer that builds premium service trucks. I toured their new showroom and training facility, which includes virtual painting and welding, allowing new and existing employees to learn new skills. I also stepped onto the production floor to see the assembly process firsthand. We had an extensive conversation about the work ahead for Congress to extend the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act – which was signed into law by President Trump in 2017 – before its expiration at the end of this year. Expiration would result in the largest tax increase on U.S. families, farmers, workers, and businesses in history, slowing economic growth, hollowing out domestic manufacturing, and preventing businesses and manufacturers like Maintainer Corporation from making long-term investment decisions or hiring new employees.

For my next stop, I traveled to Spencer to hold a roundtable discussion with small business owners who were negatively impacted by last summer’s devastating floods. The major theme of our meeting was the complete dysfunction at the federal level of bringing taxpayer dollars back home to Iowa to help our families and businesses rebuild and recover. Currently, funds tied to FEMA and the SBA take way too long to get to communities in need, which has left many of the business owners I met discouraged and outright frustrated. Like I told them, we need to find more efficient ways to get relief money to impacted Iowans quickly, including granting states like Iowa more flexibility with distributing these funds and keeping federal bureaucrats out of the process. I then made my way to Storm Lake to survey damage from the April 17 storms that caused hundreds of thousands of dollars of destruction, including at locations like Merrill Manufacturing. That same day, I jumped over to Fonda to check out the city’s new housing developments and parks. I’ve helped introduce legislation to support initiatives like the one that Fonda is undertaking. Two bills – the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act and the Neighborhood Homes Investment Act – have the goal of constructing affordable housing, especially in rural communities. Housing is critical to attract new families, new businesses, and new investment to any community. For lunch, I then stopped over at Tavern 119 for pizza where we had a good conversation about how we can help small businesses thrive with lower taxes and fewer regulations.

The next day – Wednesday April 23 – I started the morning by speaking at the Boone County Economic Development breakfast in Boone with nearly 70 people in attendance. I noted that, as a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, which handles tax policy, I’m working closely on the effort to extend the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which would spur economic activity, strengthen domestic manufacturing, help businesses grow, let families and workers keep more of their hard-earned money, and maintain the increased death tax threshold for farmers. Additionally, I mentioned my bill – the Access to Credit for our Rural Economy Act – to help our community banks offer home and agricultural loans at lower rates in rural areas. After breakfast in Boone, I toured Mid-States Millwright and Builders, a general contractor in Nevada. There, we also discussed the importance of extending the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and allowing our business sector to thrive. I then traveled to Marshalltown to visit for the first time the Iowa Veterans Home with Commandant of the Iowa Department of Veterans Affairs, Todd Jacobus. I had a great time meeting with our veterans. As I told them, I will always work to ensure that these heroes receive the high-quality healthcare and benefits that they have earned and deserve. To wrap up the day on Wednesday, I visited Omnium Manufacturing in Hampton and later held a roundtable discussion with employees, again talking about the urgent need to extend the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act before its expiration at the end of this year. That night, Jim – our Regional Director based out of Fort Dodge – hosted our 4th District Military Academy Day at Iowa Central Community College in Fort Dodge. The event was a success with prospective students getting their questions answered about applying to one of our nation’s five military academies.

On Thursday, April 24, I started my day with a trip to Silgan Containers, which manufactures metal cans for everything from soup to dog food and employs 178 people in Fort Dodge. I then visited ARKO Labs in Jewell and Best Veterinary Solutions in Ellsworth. These facilities are working on innovative solutions to combat foreign animal diseases, including bird flu, and other animal illnesses, like aMPV, which namely impacts turkeys. After my stop in Hamilton County, I met with Jeff, a State Farm Insurance agent, in Eagle Grove. We had a great discussion about the need to extend the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, financially protect Iowans from severe weather, and promote investment in our rural communities. I finished this three-day stint on my 36 County Tour with a visit to the Britt Area Food Bank, which partners with the Food Bank of Iowa, businesses in town, and the local church to serve about 80 families every month. I’m working to pass a new, five-year Farm Bill so that we can feed those in need while supporting our farmers, opening new export markets for Iowa agriculture, and keeping China away from our farmland.

Traveling to every county in our district at least twice each year is a promise that I will always keep. It’s my pledge to Iowans. Serving on the House Ways and Means Committee and the House Agriculture Committee, I will continue to be a strong voice for our families, farmers, businesses, and rural communities.

——

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