Senator Amanda Ragan: “How can we make Iowa No. 1 again? Put Iowans First!”

The following is a legislative update from State Senator Amanda Ragan, representing Franklin, Butler and Cerro Gordo counties:

We recently learned that Iowa is no longer the “best state” in the nation. We dropped from No. 1 last year in U.S. News & World Report<https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/rankings>’s annual rankings to No. 14 this year.
The rankings evaluate all 50 states on a variety of criteria, including economy, infrastructure and environment. Iowa is especially struggling with slow economic growth, maintaining our roads, expanding Internet access, and poor air and water quality.

Since the Great Recession 10 years ago, many hard-working Iowans find themselves falling farther behind<https://www.npr.org/2019/05/20/722650602/america-is-in-full-employment-so-why-arent-we-celebrating>. Rising income inequality, student debt and health care costs have been compounded over the last decade as “companies have shown a remarkably high reluctance to raise wages<https://www.npr.org/2017/08/03/541220868/why-america-s-wages-are-barely-rising> even when they can’t find people.”

We can conquer these challenges. I support a plan to Put Iowans First<http://iowansfirst.com/>, which will help address the very issues that are currently holding us back. For example, our plan calls for greater investment in infrastructure improvements statewide—something we need more than ever after a harsh winter and record flooding.

I am pleased to see local projects on Iowa’s new five-year Transportation Improvement Program, including U.S. 65 in Cerro Gordo County. These safety, maintenance and modernization initiatives can make a real difference for Iowa, now and into the future. Infrastructure work creates good jobs, boosts local spending during the project, and brings long-term growth by ensuring efficient movement of Iowa products and people.

Let’s do more. Let’s put Iowans first and make our state No. 1 again!