i9 Fact Checker: Ad uses bill to argue congresswoman works in bipartisan way

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) - Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-02) argues she has the ability to work in a bipartisan manner after working with a Democrat congresswoman to pass a bill through the House of Representatives.

Source: Miller-Meeks for Congress

According to documents from the Federal Elections Committee, Miller-Meeks for Congress is the principal campaign committee for Rep. Miller-Meeks’s campaign. She is running for her second term in congress against State Representative Christina Bohannan (D-Iowa City)

Claim #1: “Now families have it tough with rising prices”

Analysis: The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics measures the Consumer Price Index, which calculates the average change in the prices paid by urban consumers for good and services.

It found food costs in September were up 11.2% compared to last year while energy costs are up 19.8%. Overall costs for consumers jumped 8.2% over the last 12 months.

The federal agency will release it’s next report on November 10, which is after the midterm elections.

Conclusion: Families are facing raising prices and this claim gets an “A”.

Claim #2: “She got Republicans and Democrats to pass the lower food and fuels costs act,”

Analysis: Rep. Miller-Meeks was an original co-sponsor on this bill with Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Virginia). According to the congressional budget office, the bill would give the United States Department of Agriculture about $700 Million to make a wide range of changes and additions.

Those changes, according to the congressional research service, include a special investigator to investigate and prosecute price fixing among meat and poultry producers companies, a food supply chain task force, and helping farmers with the costs of crop nutrients and other precision farming technologies.

The bill also provided grants to fueling and distribution factories for biofuel infrastructure, allowed the USDA to make loans and grants for livestock and poultry processing and would allow E-15 and other higher ethanol blended fuels to be sold all year.

It passed the House of Representatives 221-204 with just seven Republican votes, including all of Iowa’s delegation: Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-01), Rep. Randy Feenstra (R-04) and Rep. Cindy Axne (D-03). The bill never passed the United States Senate and therefore never became law.

Conclusion: The ad implies this bill became law but it never did. The bill’s passage was also not as bipartisan as you may think from the ad, with only 7 of 209 Miller-Meek’s own party supporting it. Nonetheless, Rep. Miller-Meeks crossed the aisle and worked with Democrats to both co-sponsor the bill and vote to pass it. That’s why it gets an “A”.

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