Dear Friend,

Thank you to everyone who joined my telephone town hall with Chairman Jason Smith on Monday night. We unpacked many of the good things in our tax relief package we delivered last year — from no tax on tips and overtime, to expanding the Child Tax Credit, and shared some incredible stories of Iowans and Americans impacted by this relief.

Hearing from you and being transparent is my utmost priority — Iowans will always know where I stand and why.

During the call, I asked folks what the most important issue was for Congress to accomplish. Check out those results below:

Sincerely,

Taking on Shady PBMs

Thank you to Senator Chuck Grassley and of course Mrs G. for joining me in Waterloo to talk with independent pharmacists about challenges facing rural pharmacies and their patients.

One thing everyone in the room agreed on: shady PBM practices are driving up costs for patients and squeezing independent pharmacies out of business. No Iowan should go to a pharmacy only to find out the medicine they need has doubled or tripled in price.

We’ve made some progress on PBM reform — including forcing more transparency and preventing PBMs from profiting off higher drug costs, but we’ve got a long way to go to ensure middlemen aren’t driving up costs for Iowans.

Meeting with Iowans

I was honored to join the celebration of the newly renovated Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum in West Branch. This national historic site honors President Hoover’s birthplace in West Branch, Iowa, and tells the story of President Hoover’s life and legacy.

The updates to the museum are incredible — I highly recommend making time to visit!

I toured a newly constructed home built through Cedar Rapids' ROOTS 2.0 program and saw up close how local partnerships are helping more Iowa families achieve the dream of homeownership.

I look forward to our continued work together to make buying a home more affordable for families who want to put down roots in Iowa. We also discussed the bipartisan housing affordability package signed into law earlier this summer that prevents Wall Street investors from buying up single-family homes and pushing up home costs for Iowans. We’ve made progress but there’s a lot more to do to improve access to affordable housing for Iowans.

I also had the best time at Dirty Dough in Cedar Rapids. The Reges family are proud of their family-owned business, and showed me around the bakery. Dirty Dough specializes in oversized, stuffed cookies…highly recommend!

Even better, they shared how No Tax on Tips has been a game changer for their business, putting more money back in the pockets of their hardworking employees.