Cindy Axne interview

The Daily Iowan: What have you been working on in Congress lately? And what have your priorities been?

Axne: Yeah, well, first and foremost, thanks for being here. Really appreciate the news that you put out. And it’s great to see the young people trying to get the real news and make sure that it gets in front of people. So, thank you, for all you do, I always appreciate your writing.

Listen, there’s a never-ending supply of issues to work on for Iowa. So right now, obviously, as we deal with increased prices at the gas pump, and some other things, I’m working specifically on getting E15 into our clean energy bill as part of the reconciliation package. So, as we move forward to looking at new opportunities to take out policy within the Build Back Better, which we’re not really moving forward with that whole package. We’re moving forward with pieces of it. I am pushing those agendas forward.

Right now, as I mentioned, because we’ve got the issues with the fuel prices, as a result of the pumps with Russia, et cetera, it’s really important that we take a tool that we currently have to lower greenhouse gas emissions and lower people’s cost of the pump. So, I’m working with multiple colleagues from across the country from the Midwest to California, to move that clean energy agenda forward. Secondly, I’m actively working to move forward childcare options right now as I continue to write individual bills, and I could talk some about those as well. But what I do is things in tandem — Work on individual bills that I’m interested in working on that are important for our district. But also, we’ve still got these big reconciliation packages coming up. And I got to make sure Iowa has its place in them. And that’s kind of what I’m talking about here. So, I’m also trying to get childcare into there. Just before you guys walked in, I went over a one-page handout with [my staff], I will literally be given that handout to the Speaker on the Floor to every chairperson on the floor and saying, here’s what I need in for Iowa and this reconciliation package and that’s the E15 year round. That’s the childcare piece, and it’s lowering the cost of prescription drugs. So those three things I will beat the drum for nonstop for Iowa as we move forward with our next reconciliation package. And so that’s a big budget piece, right? So we’re gonna try and get as much as we can in there. And then at the same time, I am working hard to continue to push for affordable housing in Iowa. We are drastically lacking in housing, and I serve as vice chair of the subcommittee on Housing, Community Development and Insurance. I know that we have towns that are turning away businesses because we don’t have how housing, we are turning away opportunities for families because we don’t have childcare. These are all the things that go into opportunity for Iowans. And those are really what I’m working on. And then, in the meantime, as I mentioned, I work on individual bills, one I’m going to really try and push this year still is, the health care for striking workers act that I wrote, after visiting with our UAW striking workers and seeing that they were possibly having their health care taken away from them and found out that happens. So that’s an individual bill I have that I’m going to continue to push for. And then things that will never go away that I will always be supportive of, and trying to get through voting rights and money out of politics. That to me is just a huge key piece of where we need to go.

The DI: Looking at the war in Ukraine, is that at all affecting agriculture in Iowa, and that has been seen at all on a national level?

Axne: Yeah, I mean, when you come from an agricultural state and you have international commodities, there’s always going to be some impact. I would say we’re doing a pretty good job of keeping that from being heavily impacting Iowa, we still look really good with our commodities prices, we continue to ensure that the trade is available. If anything, I think it could boost opportunity for Iowa. Again, I’m gonna go back to, this is our time to get back to clean energy here in Iowa and in America, get off the dependency of fossil fuels.

And you know, where we bring in some of our fuel from Russia, get off that, blend that with our product here and start reducing [greenhouse gasses] immediately and create national security and cheaper gas. I mean, to me, this is a win-win. And so, I think there’s benefit financially, as opposed to negatively, we’re fortunate that we have a lot of trade partners that are relying on our commodities, our corn and our soy.

And while we have good prices, while we have good crops coming out and good trade setup with these folks, we should be in fine condition. It’s when we do things like for instance, Trump put in tariffs that impacted us last time, and then people did start buying grain from Russia, Brazil, et cetera, and we lost out.

So, I think this is actually hopefully the reverse. I don’t like to see any economic gain based off human misfortune in any way, shape, or form. But, you know, we’re strapping Russia right now. They can’t get their products out and where are they gonna go? Come to us. Instead of soy from Russia, soy from Iowa or Illinois. So, you know, there are disruptions, yes, I would tell you that there are and that really has to do with just the systems themselves. And so that can be disruptive to AG business in some degree. But I would say that overall, we should be able to find some opportunity here.

The DI: And one of Iowa’s senators Joni Ernst has been calling for the Biden administration to send Polish fighter jets to Ukraine. I guess a two-part question here. Do you think that that’s a good idea? And then what do you think Congress can or should do as far as defense for Ukraine goes?

Axne: Listen, this is a very, it’s a very delicate situation, because obviously, Ukraine is not part of NATO. And we’re dealing with power like Russia that could find allies. We all know what we’re trying to achieve as an outcome and what we’re trying to avoid, right? We may be at a point, as the senator mentioned, where the atrocities are, if there are war crimes occurring, which, from what I’m seeing right now, obviously, we have some situations. And that means we may need to escalate a bit and do what the Senator said, which is bring in some air support.

In the meantime, though, we really need to manage this and ensure that we aren’t going too quickly to escalation like that. Sanctions are working. They are doing more damage than I think a lot of people fully understand because it’s a quiet behind the scene damage, right?

Russia is not as, I think, fruitful as they thought they would be. And we are continuing to increase the sanctions. And we are continuing to increase all the support for their military through weapons, and you know, the funding and everything they need, we’re continuing humanitarian aid. So we’re covering a lot of bases there. But if we get if, if that would be a place where we should go next. If we think things aren’t moving in the right direction. Now, I’m gonna temper that this needs this is not the United States alone, we need to be working with our allies. And that’s the one place where it makes I want to make sure we’re fully working with our allies. And I’m assuming the Senator is that’s what she’s saying, because she’s in the military and she fully understands that.

The DI: Looking at higher education. In Iowa, there was a bill passed last year that was more strictly codifying what is or should be allowed as far as speech goes on college campuses. Is there anything that needs to be done on a national level for protecting free speech on college campuses, or defining free speech on college campuses? Is that something that’s being talked about?

Axne: It’s not something that’s necessarily being talked about, because there’s just a lot happening, but you’re absolutely right, it means there should be no shutting down of free speech anywhere, just in general, college campuses, absolutely.

Putting structures in place to limit it, to prohibit the ability for the message to get out, et cetera, unacceptable, unacceptable. I mean, our colleges and universities are supposed to be the places where you can find your voice, where you have that opportunity to begin as a young person to change this, to create a better world and a better future for yourself. And if you can’t use your voice there in a way that is impactful as you’re learning these things and becoming an adult who is working, becoming now a part of our system, et cetera, then we’re not doing justice by our kids.

So, I think we should be doing everything we possibly can to allow folks to have freedom of speech and never blocking that. It will be something that I, as a journalism undergrad, for me this is a major priority. And we need it as well, because as far as I’m concerned, there’s a heck of a lot of false narratives out there all over the place. And we need young people in our university settings to be able to talk about the truth and stand up for what’s right and get the information out there.

The DI: On college affordability, President Biden had a lot of plans when he was running as far as increasing Pell grants and making two-year college tuition free. A lot of that was kind of taken out of Build Black Better. Is there any energy on doing any of those things as far as increasing affordability or forgiving student loans in Congress?

Axne: Oh, there’s huge, there’s huge support for that. But do I think something’s going to move? I don’t know about that.  There’s huge support on the Democratic side. I mean, let me just stop right there.

I firmly understand that if our young people and anybody who’s going back to reskill, retrade, relearn whatever, can’t afford their education and constantly have to be paying that off, they’re never going to get ahead.

When I think about this, I think about first and foremost, the student, and the family, and then and the ability for anybody in this country, no matter where you come from, no matter what zip code you’re from, you should be able to get a higher education and a story, and we should have systems in place that allow that to be affordable and available. So that’s where I first start with things, but I will tell you that on the other side of the aisle, we just don’t have support for even things like reducing student loan interest rates, or doing things to reduce the debt.

We are able to do things like the president brought up, we’re gonna try and extend Pell grants and make those bigger. We’re supportive, but the other half isn’t. And so I’m trying to find other alternatives that can make education less expensive for folks, but might not be in a way where we can actually get it done.

In the meantime, if I get reelected, and we hold the House, and we gain more seats in the Senate as well, then we will absolutely pass bills that will hit those objectives. I don’t know what they will be right now. But we’ll obviously be looking at everything. Student loan debt relief, I’m sure we’ll be looking at free community colleges, for sure. I would say those two for sure. Obviously, increasing Pell Grants, all that, et cetera. And then trying to figure out how we can just in general, lower the cost of higher education. So I guarantee you, we win again, we will absolutely be moving on those. I think there’s so much happening right now. And you know, we’re not going to see as much movement until after the midterms.

The DI: And speaking of the midterms, you were first elected to a delegation that was three Democrats, one Republican and now Iowa looks a little different. So what do you think of your chances here in the 2022 election? And then the other Democrats in the other districts?

Axne: Listen, I plan on coming back with two other great colleagues, and I’m doing everything possible to make that happen. And so are Christina Bohannan and Liz Mathis, trust me on this, I don’t intend to be coming back as the lone delegate. And when I set my sights out on an outcome, we’re going to do everything we can to achieve that.

First and foremost, I am going to win this election. [When] I got there, there was a five-vote majority in the House. I am one of the top three targets in the nation, the National Republican [Congressional] Committee literally named me their number one target last fall.

So, they’re going to do everything they can to do this. There’s two of us that have won with under 1.5 percent. Me and Malinowski in Jersey. There’s five of us that have won in Trump districts twice. That’s me again. And basically, if there was a Venn diagram, I’m the only one that’s in the bullseye of every little thing that you could say was a tough race. I hit every single one of them.

So that’s why they’re gunning for me because they think I’m the weakest link. Well, they’re in for another story. You know, when I go out there, this is why I know we can win. It’s a matter of going out and talking to folks and when we do they love what I have to say. Democratic values are Iowans’ values, and Iowans’ values are America’s values.

And there have been too many people in some of these tougher counties that have been sold a bill of goods. They’re being undersold for what they could be doing by the Republican Party. And when I get out there and talk to them about the things that I’ve done for rural, I get support, just like I did when I walked into Ottumwa a month ago or whatever, first time I’d been out there I was at a brewery having a meet and greet. And on the way out, a couple of folks said, “Hey, you know, we weren’t here for the congresswoman, but we’re just grabbing a couple of beers. We’re Republican, but we’re gonna vote for her. We really like what she has to say.”

Because we actually put the policy in place to change people’s lives for the better. I am the only Iowa House member that voted for the infrastructure bill to bring broadband to Iowa. We are 50th in the nation when it comes to broadband connectivity. I have no understanding why my three other colleagues would vote against that. We are 49th in the nation when it comes to derelict bridges. My colleagues voted against that. They voted against lowering the cost of prescription drugs. They voted against voting rights. They voted against COVID relief. They voted against putting money in the pockets of Main Street. In these towns, believe you me, as I told all my colleagues, as much as I will try and work with them, every one of them, I said, “I will be telling every person I meet that you did not vote for this. And I will say your name.” I’ve told them this. When one of them asked me, “Hey, is this piece in there?” I’m like, “Yeah, you can vote for it if you want.” “You know, I can’t do that.” I’m like, “Yeah you can.” I’ve had to vote against my party before when it was right for the district. This is what you do as a representative.

And so, I’m not going to give them a break. They’re working against Iowa. They have been working against Iowa. I’m a fifth-generation Iowa, and I come from rural Iowa. I know what those folks need too. And the Republicans have sold them a bill of goods about what they say they’re doing. At the same time. They’re gutting rural America, and Democrats are the one actually getting the things done.

I just brought a childcare expansion to Stanton, Iowa, that had over 100 children waiting on their list in Stanton, Iowa, same thing and Mount Ayr in Ringgold County, that was the community development program that I voted for. So, who’s working for Iowa? Who’s working for rural America? It’s Democrats. It’s not Republicans, they are gutting rural Iowa. Here’s what I have to tell you. I get my rear end out there and I talk to folks, they like what I have to say Christina and Liz, same thing, because they come from the same cloth, hardworking, middle class folks who know that our families need more opportunity to put money in their pockets, greater opportunity for their families to have success, and then leveling the playing field for Iowa so we get what other states need.

It’s real simple. It’s just being honest, transparent, and hardworking. And when we go out there, and we show them that, and we don’t just lie about whatever, or just say we can’t solve something. That’s why those people in those breweries say you got my vote. That’s why the sixth-generation row crop farmer in Madison County tells me I’m not impressed by very many people, but I’m really impressed by you. Sixth-generation Republican, because I can talk stepped up basis in taxes, I can talk climate change, and find a solution that puts actually more opportunity in their hands, but also helps with sustainability, et cetera. And so, I don’t ever buy into the fact that we can’t win in these places. It’s a matter of just getting our message out there. We visit and then we get the money in the bank to put the ads out to reinforce that publicly. We’re going to win these races. And I’m taking those two with me that are coming in here.