117th Congress

U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said state and federal officials are working to resettle Afghan refugees fleeing the rapid collapse and takeover of the country's government and armed forces by the Taliban.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds “made very clear today that in the spirit of (former Iowa Gov.) Bob Ray taking Vietnamese refugees that Iowa would be very open to Afghan refugees," Grassley said Tuesday during a stop in Davenport.

Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Ottumwa, fellow House Republicans from Ohio and Washington state, and the American Farm Bureau’s president are making stops in Iowa, touting the Trump Administration’s approach to federal oversight of rivers, lakes, and wetlands.

Republican Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Ottumwa says the Biden Administration must act quickly to evacuate Afghans who’ve helped the U.S. military over the past two decades.

“We have to make a concerted effort,” Miller-Meeks said. “Even though there was, in my view, no planning or a horrible execution of a plan if there was a plan, we need to be able to get those individuals out of Afghanistan and to safety.”

The derecho storm that mowed over a large swath of Iowa’s corn and chopped down thousands of trees a year ago has elected officials wondering when the state will fully recover from the devastation.

Senate Democratic Leader Zach Wahls couldn’t make a prediction on Tuesday last week, the one-year anniversary of one of the nation’s most severe inland storms. 

“It was a really stressful time. I mean, you’re in the middle of a global pandemic, and then on top of that you have this major natural disaster,” said Wahls, D-Coralville. 

DES MOINES, Iowa — Afghanistan is now under Taliban control, and Iowa's political leaders are speaking out. 

President Joe Biden defended his decision to pull U.S. troops out of Afghanistan in a televised speech Monday afternoon, saying he stood "squarely behind" that decision. 

The derecho storm that mowed over a large swath of Iowa’s corn and chopped down thousands of trees a year ago has elected officials wondering when the state will fully recover from the devastation.

Senate Democratic Leader Zach Wahls couldn’t make a prediction on Tuesday, the one-year anniversary of one of the nation’s most severe inland storms. 

“It was a really stressful time. I mean, you’re in the middle of a global pandemic, and then on top of that you have this major natural disaster,” said Wahls, D-Coralville.