I received a mailer from Mariannette Miller-Meeks in which she gave herself and her Republican colleagues’ equal credit for co-sponsorship of the Sgt. Brandon Ketchum Rural Veterans’ Mental Health Act that President Biden signed into law.
In 2016, Sgt. Ketchum of Davenport died by suicide after he was denied access to mental health services related to his battle with PTSD at a VA facility in Iowa. The legislation establishes new rural access programs through the VA and supports research on rural veteran mental health care needs.
To be clear, Democrats are the ones who did the work to ensure this bill became law. The Republicans signed on, which is good, but voters should know this stand-alone bill was actually sponsored by Democrat Cindy Axne representing Iowa’s 3rd District. Axne did the work, spoke in support of it on the House floor and graciously thanked her Iowa colleagues for co-sponsorship. Miller-Meeks did not return the courtesy of even acknowledging Axne’s leadership.
Why does this matter? Republicans around the country are trying to take credit for popular Democratic policies such as infrastructure and pandemic relief, oftentimes legislation they did not even vote for. This creates a large number of voters who honestly cannot tell who is working for them and who is working against them.
Miller-Meeks obtained Dave Loebsack’s seat by a six-vote margin in an election that should have been re-counted. Twenty-two votes were left uncounted – enough to have made a difference.
Iowa’s first district would do better to put a Democrat back in this seat in 2022. Christina Bohannan has declared her candidacy and would make a great choice.