Mariannette Miller-Meeks interview

The Daily Iowan: I wanted to ask you about your new position with the House subcommittee on education reform. Can you talk about what you’ve been doing since you’ve been put in that role, and how the University of Iowa is informing your work in that role?

Mariannette Miller-Meeks: The first thing that we prioritized was the reauthorization of a bill. Working on workforce: how do we innovate the workforce, how do we make sure that the training is available for people, whether that’s apprenticeships, either through the Department of Labor or apprenticeships that are through private companies. We’re also looking at how much money goes into it, and the benefits and how much regulations. We have a little bit different take on it than the Democrats’ plan for reauthorizing, and it’s overdue for reauthorization. And it’s time for reauthorization.

The DI: The Democratic National Committee is moving to change Iowa’s position as the first-in-the-nation caucus. How do you think that reflects the political environment, and will Republicans follow suit?

Miller-Meeks: No, and that’s because Republicans both trust Iowans, and they value the service that Iowans do in vetting candidates. So I think that it is short-sighted. Since I’m an ophthalmologist, it is short-sighted for the Democrats to get rid of Iowa’s first-in-the-nation status. We may not have the highest percentage of people of color, but we’re the state that promoted our president Barack Obama to the presidency. So he won that caucus. And Iowa has, on both sides, a history of vetting candidates, doing the very tough job. I mean, on caucus night, we go out, often sub-zero temperatures. We go out, we get together, we go meet candidates, we ask them questions. There are very few other states that I think have the investment in vetting candidates, looking at candidates looking at their records, looking at their life history and life experiences and how that’s going to put them in a position to best help the American people should they be elected president.

The Daily Iowan: Senator Ernst has been an advocate for sending fighter jets to Ukraine, more lethal aid. Do you agree with the Senator that the US should be sending more aid?

Mariannette Miller-Meeks:  I think we absolutely should send more aid. If you look, this was an unprovoked, unmitigated, unprecedented attack. It was an invasion. It is a declaration of war. Ukraine is not protected under Article 5 of NATO. Although they have wanted to be a member of NATO, President Zelenskyy has forgone that in order to try to reach some peace agreement.

I think that unfortunately, we’re at this place now because of all the things that have happened since President Biden was inaugurated that have led us up to this point. And what do I mean by that? I mean by we were energy independent, just 15 months ago. So stopping the Keystone pipeline sends a message to energy companies that we don’t want you drilling. We don’t want you producing more oil and natural gas here in the United States. We want to shift over to all electric that sends a signal to the market, and because of this increasing production. And so I think that signal has been sent to the marketplace. You’ve also seen that in the recent memos by the SEC and by those financing agencies, be the banks, be the hedge funds or financing entities such as Blackrock so you see that being repeated throughout, and people get a signal for that.

So taking the United States from an energy independence to energy dependence and importing oil and gas, sends a signal around the world. Getting back into the Paris Accords, getting back into the Iran nuclear agreement when we’re bending over backward as a nation to accommodate them rather than holding them to a standard, rather than holding them to their agreements and making sure that Iran does not get a nuclear weapon.

And then lastly, the disastrous, inept, incompetent withdrawal from Afghanistan, leaving $85 billion in equipment and giving up an airbase which was really our sole source for eyes on Russia, Iran, and China. So when you have that compilation of things for those countries and dictators that are tyrants, and bullies, that sends a second signal to them that the United States is weak, that we’re not going to be in support of our allies, just as we were not in support of them in Afghanistan, and therefore they can make an incursion and no one’s going to do anything about it. So, we know that the sanctions for Crimea which were even less than they are now did not work. Sanctions, I think, fully in support of the sanctions that have been put in place. They should have been put in place back earlier in January, maybe even earlier than that, because now we have to not only look at Ukraine. We have to look at all of the other countries around Ukraine. Russia, if they take Ukraine, will not stop at Ukraine. So Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Romania, even Finland, which is not a NATO country, are at risk.

So I think you have to look at what is the motivation for Vladimir Putin? And then where does that end? That also then leads us to what happens around Israel and what happens in China with Taiwan. And China is not the same as Russia. China does not have a weak economy. They have a very developed economy. They have a high export [and] high trade deficit in the United States. And Taiwan is a producer of 85 percent of the chips. I think that’s the number, 85 percent of the chips that go into all of our equipment, not just our phones, our military equipment, our farm equipment, or cars, all of your home computers and devices. So it’s a very serious issue as we look forward, so more sanctions or military equipment. 300 missiles, the stinger missiles. are not enough because they’re too close to the surface, but to allow the Ukrainians to protect themselves and share intelligence with Ukraine I think is very important as well, too.

The DI: And President Biden said on Monday that he believes Putin should be investigated for war crimes for his actions in Ukraine. Would you agree with the President on that?

Miller-Meeks: I think that the President, you know, he may have walked back some of those comments, but yes, what we’re seeing come out of Ukraine, both in photographs in our meetings with Ukrainian Parliament and the ambassador and met with the ambassador this week there in Parliament last week. That yes, there’s serious questions about investigating for war crimes, and whether or not war crimes were committed. It certainly looks that way. And I think that that would be appropriate for us to push for our NATO allies to continue to look at war crimes being conducted in Ukraine.

The DI: Since you were drawn into the same district as representative Axne in the redistricting process, you said that you’re going to have a residency in the newly drawn 1st Congressional District. Will that be your permanent residency?

Miller-Meeks: I’ll keep my current acreage in Ottumwa and have a residency there just like I have a residency here, but without moving into the new 1st District, I can’t vote for myself. So I intend to cast a vote for myself. So at least I win by seven.

The DI: Right. And that was my other question, since the 2020 election was famously a close race for you. How does having an election decided by six votes inform your approach in the upcoming year to make sure that stays with you?

Miller-Meeks: I would say winning by six votes doesn’t inform my approach at all, so I represent a district that is pretty evenly split between the political parties. There are more registered independents than there are either Democrats or Republicans. I think that I fit the district. Well, I was on faculty at the University of Iowa. I’m the first woman president of the Iowa Medical Society. I was first on faculty at the Department of Ophthalmology in the University of Iowa. So I tend to take a course which fits the district well. I live in a rural area, so I understand the issues on farming, on broadband, on agriculture, but I also understand the manufacturing side as well, and certainly education and health care.