Iowa has been abuzz about a steel company considering locating a $15 billion plant in Lee County. President Donald Trump announced the deal. Gov. Kim Reynolds called a special session. And in one day, she signed a bill paving the way for $1.36 billion in tax breaks, the largest incentive package the state has ever considered.
Democrat Christina Bohannan is running to represent that area in Congress. She said she hopes it works as the company promised.
“1,700 good paying jobs would be terrific. I do think there have been a lot of concerns around the process being very rushed on that,” Bohannan told Iowa Starting Line during a visit to Maquoketa.
“It was the biggest tax credit for a foreign corporation that I think our state has ever seen. So I hope in the future we can be a little more thoughtful and work through that process and make sure that that negotiation is done in a way that works not only for creating jobs, but also for the taxpayers.”
Mesabi is owned by India-based Essar Group.
Housing and childcare
Bohannan said employers tell her the workforce is “absolutely the number one concern.” She said her plan to support Iowa’s workforce is to focus on providing affordable housing and childcare to Iowa’s 1st Congressional District.
“Employees won’t come and work somewhere if there’s no childcare in that area,” she said.
Iowa families pay about $12,700 a year for childcare on average, and Early Head Start reaches 14% of eligible infants and toddlers, according to the childcare advocacy group First Five Years Fund. Bohannan wants to expand Head Start for infants and toddlers.
Taking on tariffs
Her campaign platform adds ending tariffs, banning hedge funds from buying family homes, expanding career and technical education, and expanding the Child Care Tax Credit. It’s estimated that tariffs cost Iowa families $2,400 a year. Investors own about 12.5% of Iowa’s single-family homes, but landlords with 10 or fewer properties hold most of them, according to real estate data firm BatchData.
Asked what law she would pass in her first year to create jobs, she pointed to repealing Medicaid cuts, which she said has risked closing hospitals and clinics. Her platform says the cuts would kick more than 100,000 Iowans off healthcare. KFF estimated the law’s direct changes would leave about 80,000 Iowans uninsured by 2034, and figures above 100,000 include expiring ACA subsidies. The Iowa Hospital Association estimated hospitals will lose about $4 billion over 10 years.
Asked about small business health insurance costs, she argued letting people buy into a Medicare option would help more people have access to an affordable plan and would bring down prices for private plans through increased competition.
Republican incumbent Mariannette Miller-Meeks backed making the small business tax deduction permanent and has defended tariffs as leverage against China.
