A Postcard from D.C.

On Wednesday, members of the delegation from Poweshiek County Economic Development (PowI-80) had meetings with Rep. Bruce Braley, Rep. Leonard Boswell, Senator Chuck Grassley, and Senator Tom Harkin.

Pictured here are the members of the group meeting in Senator Harkin's office. We are advocating for many issues of importance to Poweshiek County. Obviously, one of the biggest issues of the day revolved around President Obama's proposed economic stimulus package. The House of Representatives have passed the package and it now goes to the Senate.

The Senate Finance Committee have reviewed their version of the stimulus package. As you may know, our Senator Chuck Grassley, is the ranking member of that committee and Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) is the chair of the committee. Over the past few years, both Senator Grassley and Senator Baucus have been working closely on rural hospital issues, including the unfair Medicare reimbursement system for tweener hospitals such as GRMC.

I am pleased that there is a provision in the package to provide assistance to Iowa's tweener hospitals. We are advocating that this and many other provisions of the legislation stay in the final version of the package that will directly benefit Iowa hospitals and the people who rely on them for their healthcare.

Please take a moment, and thank your U.S. Members of Congress and their hard-working staff, for all they do on behalf of Iowans.

We're doing more than keeping our fingers crossed that these provisions will make it to the final version--we're actually on The Hill telling the story for all of us. When I get back from DC later this week, I'll share more with you about what I heard and learned.