Volume 50, No. 1 Published Quarterly 3038 South Lakeport, Suite 100, Sioux City, Iowa 51106 January 2018 Who’s ready for another special election? The Iowa Legislature will see its sixth race to fill an open seat since the 2016 election in January, this one in Sioux City for House District 6. Voters will choose Republican Representative Jim Carlin’s replacement – he just won a promotion to the Iowa Senate in a special election to fill resigning Senator Bill Anderson’s district. Governor Kim Reynolds set the election date for January 16 after Carlin made his resignation from the Iowa House official (special elections are required to be held in a shorter time frame if they occur during the legislative session). The house district covers the Morningside part of Sioux City (the southern third of town), Sergeant Bluff and a couple rural townships in southwestern Woodbury County. It’s traditionally been a rather deep-red district, once home to Republican Speaker of the House Chris Rants, but results from the senate special election surprised many and have some hoping this could turn into an unexpectedly close race. Rita DeJong, a former Sioux City teacher and principal is the Democratic nominee. She was once named Iowa Principal of the Year and has been deeply involved in many Siouxland community service organizations. Rita De Jong has been endorsed by the Iowa Federation of Labor. IOWA CAUCUSES ON FEBRUARY 5TH Tax bill: Not just a 2017 story It would be so easy to close the book on the 2017 tax bill, to allow our attention to be diverted to the next issue or threat, because there are so many. We owe it to ourselves and future generations not to fall for what happened in 2017 on the tax bill in Congress, sold on hyperbole and defended on ideological sand that will give way this spring to damaging cuts to health care and nutrition to those who need it most. Our senators should have warned us. Instead, they sold only cherry-picked data molded into a messy ball of spin and trickle-down economics, bereft of full context or history. Senator Joni Ernst did it here: https://outreach.senate.gov/iqextranet/view_newsletter.aspx?id=104023&c=JErnst Senator Chuck Grassley did it here: https://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/news -releases/grassley- statement-president-trump-signing-historic-tax-reform-legislation-law Just stick to the facts, and you can see that the expensive tax bill that will give us — conservatively $1.5 trillion in deficit spending, also provides: ▪ Breaks that provide meager help to low- and middle-income Iowans expire under this bill, including the Child Tax Credit expansion that the Senator notes in the linked piece, but does not note its emphasis to help the wealthy most, nor the expiration date in 2026. As a result, as this table shows, the bottom 60 percent of Iowa taxpayers will, on average, see tax increases in 2027 when they are being told they will receive a “tax cut.” ▪ A lessened value of the Earned Income Tax Credit for low-income working families because it holds down the formula to account for inflation. ▪ New threats to the safety net as massive deficits caused by this legislation are used as an excuse to cut critical services that benefit the poor, the disabled, and low-income working families. ▪ Permanent breaks that only reach the extremely wealthy and large corporations — permanent, at least until a future Congress has the courage to take on the interests that have successfully promoted them. We need to do better in helping Iowans and all Americans understand the impact of major decisions that will affect the health and economic opportunity for themselves and their families. In the coming months, the Iowa Policy Project will be examining these impacts further and in addition to reports, we will host public forums that expand on that understanding. It would be great to include either or both of our U.S. senators in any of these sessions, in a respectful and engaging environment, in a year when neither senator is on the ballot, so they can more fully discuss the impacts of the bill that their initial statements did not cover. The timing is important, with so many decisions coming for the Iowa General Assembly that may be affected by the just-passed tax bill in Congress, and responsibilities pushed to the states by Washington. 2018Mike Political Owen is Calendarexecutive director of the nonpartisan Iowa Policy Project in Iowa City. [email protected] 2018 Political Calendar January 8 - Iowa Legislative Session begins January 14 - End of Legislative Session - Legislative Forums Click here for a list of Forums in your area. February 5 - Iowa Caucus 6:30 pm To find more information about your caucus click the party links below: Democrat Republican March 21 & 22 - Iowa Federation of Labor Legislative Conference. Prairie Meadows, Altoona Iowa Click here for more information April 14 - Iowa Federation of Labor Committee on Political Education (COPE) Convention USW # 310 office in Des Moines Click here for more information June 5 - Primary September 19- 21 - Iowa Federation of Labor 2018 Convention Prairie Meadows, Altoona Iowa Click here for more information November 6 - General Election Western Iowa Labor Federation 2018 meeting schedule Northwest Chapter: Chapter meetings are held on the 3rd Monday of each month, 6:00 PM, at the UFCW # 222 hall located at 3038 Lakeport in Sioux City. The Community Service Committee meets at 5:30 pm, and the Area Labor Federation meeting follows at 7 pm. 2018 Chapter meeting dates are as follows: January 15, February 19, March 19, April 16, May 21, June 18, July 16, Aug 20, September 17, October 15, November 19, No December meeting. The Sioux City Working Iowa Neighbors (WIN) committee meets on the 2nd Tuesday of each month at 6pm. The WIN committee meets in the Western Iowa Labor Federation office located downstairs at UFCW # 222 at 3038 S Lakeport. 2018 WIN committee meeting dates are as follows: January 9, February 13, March 13, April 10, May 8, June 12, July 10, Aug 14, September 11, October 9, November 13, December 11. North Central Chapter: Chapter meetings are held on the 1st Tuesday of the month, 6:00 pm, at the UFCW # 6 hall located at 1200 3rd Ave NW in Fort Dodge. Meeting dates are as follows: February 6, March 6, April 3, May 1, June 5, July 3, Aug 7, September 4, October 2, November 6, December 4. Southwest Chapter: Chapter meetings are held on the 3rd Monday of each month, 6:00 pm, at the IAFF #15 hall located at 1827 South 8th Street in Council Bluffs. Meeting dates are as follows: January 15, February 19, March 19, April 16, May 21, June 18, July 16, Aug 20, September 17, October 15, November 19, No December meeting, Holiday Party on December 17, venue to be determined later. If you are interested joining meetings on the phone or over the internet please e-mail [email protected] or call Scott at 402-657-1007. 2018 Harry Smith Scholarship Fund Western Iowa Labor Federation Affiliates The Western Iowa Labor Federation has established a scholarship fund available to dependent children, members, and apprentices whose (parent’s) local is affiliated with the Labor Council. The dependents must be at least high school seniors and apprentices must come from a registered apprenticeship. One male and one female will each be awarded a $500 scholarship, which will be paid to the college when the Labor Council is presented with the student’s tuition statement. Name: ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Please print last, first, middle initial Address: ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ City, state, zip Telephone:__________________________________________ Birthdate:____________________________________ Male Female Currently enrolled at _________________________________________________________________________________________ Address of above school _______________________________________________________________________________________ Apprenticeship program enrolled in ______________________________________________________________________________ Expected date of graduation____________________________ Expected school of enrollment ________________________________ Name of union parent______________________________________________ Local____________________________________ Signed (union parent) ________________________________________________________________________________________ Signed (applicant) ___________________________________________________________________________________________ Send completed form to: Western Iowa Labor Federation, 3038 So. Lakeport, Sioux City, IA 51106 THE TRUTH EXPRESS The Voice of Labor in Western Iowa Distributed quarterly by the Western Iowa Labor Federation 3038 S Lakeport, Suite 100 Sioux City, Iowa 51106 Contact us at 402-657-1007 [email protected] .