Representatives of Fort Dodge, Webster County, the Greater Fort Dodge Growth Alliance and Iowa Central Community College are in Washington, D.C., for an annual lobbying trip.

The trip enables the local officials to explain projects and priorities to members of Congress and staffers from various federal agencies.

The local delegation traveled to Washington Monday. Small group meetings were held Tuesday with the Department of Justice and Federal Aviation Administration, among other agencies.

Today, the group will meet with Republican U.S. senators Joni Ernst and Charles Grassley and U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra, R-Hull.

The group will return Thursday.

Iowa Central priorities

Iowa Central President Jesse Ulrich and Jim Kersten, the college’s vice president for external relations and government affairs, visited the U.S. Department of Justice Tuesday to talk about a reentry program for former prison inmates.

The college has been a national leader in using a financial aid program called Second Chance Pell to help current inmates take classes.

Ulrich said Tuesday that he wants to expand the college’s educational offerings to inmates being reintegrated into society. The goal, he said, is to provide opportunities for them to continue their education.

“They really provided us with a plethora of different options to do that,” he said of the federal officials.

Ulrich said he plans to talk to Ernst, Grassley and Feenstra today about the shortcomings of revised college financial aid rules. He said those rules are “still a disaster for small business owner families and farm families.” The rules, he said, misrepresent the income of those families.

“We’re going to continue to hammer that drum,” he said.

Essential Air Service

Fort Dodge City Council members Cameron Nelson and Megan Secor joined Rhonda Chambers, director of aviation at Fort Dodge Regional Airport, for a meeting with representatives of the Federal Aviation Administration.

Much of the discussion was about the Essential Air Service program, which provides subsidies to ensure that airlines continue to serve smaller communities. United Express flights to and from the local airport are provided with the support of an Essential Air Service contract.

A bill to reauthorize the FAA could have a significant impact on the program, according to Chambers.

“As the House and Senate versions of these bills came out, I made it known to our legislators what parts of the bill, specifically the House bill, would be the beginning of the end for air service, not only in Fort Dodge, but EAS commercial airports across the nation,” Chambers said.