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President Trump’s ‘One, Big, Beautiful Bill’ delivers for Iowa agriculture

More than a week ago, I voted to pass President Trump’s “One, Big, Beautiful Bill,” which will help rebuild American manufacturing, turbocharge our economy, and deliver real tax relief for Iowa families, farmers, and small businesses. As the only member of Congress serving on both the House Ways and Means Committee and the House Agriculture Committee, I played a pivotal role in writing this transformative legislation, ensuring that our families, farmers, and businesses had a seat at the table. Representing the second largest agriculture-producing congressional district in the ...

Q&A: Big, beautiful bill comes to the Senate

Q: What is the Big, Beautiful Bill Act? A: The House of Representatives passed a 1,000-plus page bill in May that includes key measures to enact President Trump’s domestic policy agenda, including a once-in-a-generation opportunity to cut government bloat and prevent the biggest tax hike in American history. The package also boosts resources for the military, beefs up border security and unleashes American energy to help fuel economic growth. Now, the sausage-making gets underway in the U.S. Senate. Unlike in the House of Representatives, deliberations in the Senate must abide ...

Opening communications with your county government

Hey there. My name is Niki Conrad. I’m the Chair of the Webster County Board of Supervisors, and I’ve wanted to try something like this for a long time. This is the first in a series of short editorials where I’ll share what’s going on in Webster County — the work we do, how decisions get made, and what it means to serve in local government. I’m not doing this to campaign or put out polished statements. I just believe people deserve to know what’s happening, and that public service should be transparent and accessible. Local government doesn’t always get much ...

The gravity of Memorial Day must not be forgotten

After the bloodiest war in U.S. history, an enlisted soldier in the Union Army was assigned to recover war dead from Southern battlefields. Brevet Lt.-Col. Edmund B. Whitman mapped out an intricate system of “cemeterial districts” that formed the framework for our system of National Cemeteries. They provide a final resting place for fallen heroes and sacred space for mourners and citizenry to honor those who gave their last full measure of devotion to preserve freedom and liberty for generations to come. After the Civil War, it became popular to place flowers near gravesites to ...

Nursing – A valued profession

I always wanted to be a nurse. When I was about 5-years-old, my aunt and her best friend came and saw me at my grandparents. They were dressed in their white uniforms, and nursing caps. They were talking about the ways they cared for people that day and how they made a difference. I was fascinated by the ability to care for another person on the level they were able to. When I was about 17 years old, I had the opportunity to care for my grandpa when he had cancer, and it really solidified my desire to pursue a career in nursing. I received my BSN from the University of Nebraska ...

No more handouts for the idle rich living high off the hog

Our nation’s safety net shouldn’t be strained by subsidizing the lifestyles of the self-sufficient. Yet, too many of the idle rich are living high off the hog, collecting government checks for not working, while at the same time earning a million dollars or more from some other side venture. Thousands of out-of-work millionaires were paid more than $271 million in unemployment assistance during the first two years of the Biden administration (amounts are from tax years 2021 and 2022, numbers for 2023 and 2024 are not yet available). Based on an analysis of tax returns from ...