On Thursday April 24th, I continued my 36 County Tour meeting with Iowans in Webster and Hamilton counties. This tour is a promise that I made to my constituents when I was first elected to Congress, pledging that I would visit all 36 counties in our district – Iowa’s 4th Congressional District – at least twice each year.

To date, I have made nearly 350 individual stops, visiting farms, biofuels plants, hospitals, schools, universities, Main Street businesses, and manufacturers. I always enjoy having real, face-to-face conversations with Iowans about their policy suggestions and ideas and discussing how we can pass meaningful legislation to make our communities, state, and country stronger and more prosperous.

For my first stop on Thursday morning, I toured Silgan Containers, which manufactures metal cans for everything from soup to pet food and employs 178 people in Fort Dodge. I also held a roundtable discussion on the need to extend the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act before its expiration at the end of this year and strengthen domestic manufacturing. The stakes for tax reform could not be higher. If the tax cuts that President Trump signed into law in 2017 lapse, the average Iowa taxpayer would face a 25% tax hike, small businesses would see a top tax rate of nearly 44%, farmers would have their death tax exemption cut in half, workers would see their standard deduction reduced by 50%, and families would face a 50% cut to the child tax credit. The economy would also experience slowed growth as businesses and manufactures delay, or completely halt, investments and hiring. Some estimates even suggest that roughly six million jobs could be lost if Congress does not renew the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Serving on the House Ways and Means Committee, I am actively working on legislation to prevent the largest tax increase on Iowa families, farmers, workers, and businesses in U.S. history by protect these tax cuts that turbocharged our economy beginning in 2017.

After my visit to Silgan Containers, I made the trip to Jewell to tour ARKO Labs and Ellsworth to check out Best Veterinary Solutions. These facilities are working on innovative solutions to combat foreign animal diseases, like bird flu, and other illnesses, like aMPV, which largely infects turkeys. To complement their work, I am a strong supporter of legislation to fully fund the three-legged stool of animal health, which includes the National Animal Health Laboratory Network (NAHLN), the National Animal Disease Preparedness and Response Program (NADPRP) and the National Animal Vaccine and Veterinary Countermeasures Bank (NAVVCB). These programs ensure that we can proactively prevent and mitigate when needed foreign animal disease outbreaks and other adverse animal illnesses. I also applaud the Trump administration’s successful bird flu strategy to lower egg prices and support our producers, which is an important focus for me as a member of the House Agriculture Committee.

Furthermore, I recently introduced the Safe American Food Exports (SAFE) Act, which would codify USDA’s role in negotiating regionalization agreements that allow livestock, poultry, and other animal products from unaffected areas of the country to continue to be safely exported in the event of an animal disease outbreak. Iowa farmers are the backbone of our economy and the breadbasket of our country and the world. But we know that an animal disease outbreak can be devastating for our producers, majorly disrupt trade with foreign countries, and close important export markets that our farmers depend on. By working proactively on regionalization agreements and prioritizing farm biosecurity, we can safely ship our agricultural commodities around the globe, prevent massive trade disruptions, and mitigate the negative impacts of animal disease on our farmers, producers, and rural communities.

Over the years, I have made several trips to both Webster and Hamilton Counties. From attending the Fort Dodge Car Show and spending time with Webster County Sheriff Luke Fleener to touring Van Diest Medical Center and meeting with local veterans in Webster City, I always enjoy being home in Iowa and seeing firsthand all that our communities have to offer. In Congress, I will continue to be a strong voice for our families, farmers, workers, and businesses in Webster and Hamilton counties and across all 36 counties in our incredible district.

U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra, R-Hull, represents Iowa’s Fourth Congressional District.