It has seemed since day one both Ashley Hinson and Marriannette Miller-Meeks have both essentially been sleep walking through their respective terms in congress. Apparently both are relying on an Iowa press that seldom bothers to dig into questions and seldom asks a followup.

They also seem to be willing to tie their future and ours to Donald Trump. Apparently the whole idea is just go with the flow, do little and maybe when the vote comes along the so called ‘Iowa nice’ people will just vote for them because they are incumbents. 

One group of people that do pay attention is Iowa’s farmers. And now it seems that Ashley Hinson has decided to hook her star onto a once failed concept that seems to be coming around again. The concept is Steve King’s (remember him?) “King Amendment”  – an attempt to loosen many state and federal laws on international conglomerates owning American farmland.

This comes from mdjonline – the Marietta Daily Journal in Marietta, Georgia. A big tip of the hat to Progress Iowa’s daily High Five for finding this major hiccup by Iowa’s own Ashley Hinson:

“Washington, D.C. – The Organization for Competitive Markets (OCM), and Competitive Markets Action (CMA) today condemned the so-called Exposing Agriculture Trade Suppression (EATS) Act introduced by Sen. Roger Marshall, R-KS, and Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-IA. Last week, OCM launched a campaign against the EATS Act, a bill that would have a devastating impact on America’s farming and ranching families. This bill erases state laws, giving Chinese corporations unchecked control.

The campaign launched with a major ad buy in Politico with a full page color print ad, digital ads, and sponsorship of Politico’s Weekly and Morning Ag Newsletters and will continue the campaign throughout the upcoming Farm Bill debate. As a part of OCM and CMA’s efforts to educate constituents the groups are launching a drive time radio campaign with targeted spots in competitive House Districts. The 30-second spots encourage listeners to call their elected officials and ask them to vote no on any Farm Bill that contains the Steve King rebranded EATS Act.

The EATS Act, or the so-called “Exposing Agricultural Trade Suppression (EATS) Act,” promoted by Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa and Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS), is just a revamped version of the controversial “King Amendment” championed by former Rep. Steve King (R-IA). It is the biggest attack on states’ rights America’s rural communities have likely ever faced. The “King Amendment” failed to make it into the past two farm bills after bi-partisan opposition to it the egregious amendment. Now, legislators working for industrial agriculture interests have rebranded the measure hoping most would not notice.

This legislation will erase  thousands of laws passed by state and local governments nationwide that benefit family farms over international conglomerates, as well as those that support dairy farmers, baby food safety, and control the infestation of invasive pests. Put simply, this bill permanently strips power from Agriculture Committees at state and local levels of government.

There are some great quotes at the link about how damaging the EATS act could be for family farms and how much it gives away to international corporations.

I sure hope Iowa’s farmers are paying attention. They don’t need a knife in the back from their congress member.