Iowa Republican Senator Chuck Grassley says the deep cuts to Medicaid proposed in the federal reconciliation bill won’t affect those who need the program.
Republicans have been targeting the health coverage program for low-income and disabled Americans as a way to offset the loss of revenue due to the proposed tax cuts in the bill.
Grassley says the bill proposes adding things like work requirements to make sure abled bodied people are working to get coverage.
“The needy who rely on Medicaid, grandma and nursing homes, people with disabilities, kids and more, I want to make clear, will not lose any coverage,” he said.
Democrats and opponents of the bill say it will cause millions of eligible Americans to lose health coverage by creating confusing bureaucratic red tape to keep their benefits, which will strain the whole health care system.
*Additionally, there is a vacancy in the president post in one of the four colleges in Sioux City.
Kendra Ericson served as the President of St. Luke’s College, which is a nursing college, for five years.
Ericson has been named the next President of Western Dakota Technical College, which is in western South Dakota. Her role there starts on July 1.
“I am excited to join Western Dakota Technical College and collaborate with the Board of Trustees, faculty, staff, and the community WDTC serves," said Ericson. "As a first-generation college student, I am passionate about the opportunities learning brings to individuals and committed to advancing excellence in technical education.”
*In other news, based on reports from what food bank and pantry leaders are experiencing, the new state of Iowa summer food program for kids got off to a rocky start this month.
Some food bank and pantry officials say they’ve seen delays and logistical challenges with obtaining and storing food for the new Healthy Kids Iowa program. The program designed by Governor Kim Reynolds provides $40 worth of food per kid to low-income families each month, instead of sending them money for food through previous Summer EBT program.
Andrea Cook is executive director of the Johnston Partnership. She says they started giving out food through the new program last week, but ran out before everyone was served.
“Didn’t matter whether you were running a very small pantry in rural Iowa or a large pantry here in the metro area. We’re all struggling with figuring out how to make this work and make sense,” Cook said.
A food bank in eastern Iowa was delayed in getting food out to pantries, because they only had a few weeks to get the program up and running. Food bank officials say families don’t really get to choose their food but they hope there will be more choices later in the summer.
*In other news, Sioux City Council passed a two dollar increase on the monthly bus pass on Monday, increasing it from $48 a month to $50.
The price of the bus pass has not changed since July 1, 2010.
A public hearing was held to hear any public comments or concerns but nobody commented.
In related news, during the Sioux City School Board meeting last week the board approved Transit bus tickets for students throughout the 2025-2026 school year.
The bus tickets are for students who do not qualify for free bussing and cannot afford to pay for bussing.
District officials like the program, as providing bus tickets to students allows them to attend school consistently.
* Additionally, an Iowa expert who served as an advisor to a federal vaccine panel that was dismissed by Health Secretary Robert Kennedy this week says he’s concerned about the lack of transparency around the decision.
Kennedy abruptly dismissed all 17 sitting members of the Centers for Disease Control’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices last week. He said the move was needed to quote reestablish public confidence in vaccine science.
Stanley Perlman is a microbiologist and immunologist at the University of Iowa. He was not on the panel, but has advised the panel.
Perlman says the entire board’s dismissal was shocking because all experts had been highly vetted, on such topics as if they have conflicts of interest.
Kennedy has unveiled eight new people to serve on the panel. Perlman says there’s been little information about how the new panel was chosen and vetted.
