Naig, Hill Announce Farmers for Grassley Coalition Leadership

WEST DES MOINES — Today, Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig and former President of the Iowa Farm Bureau Craig Hill announced the leadership of the Farmers for Grassley coalition on a call with members of the Iowa press. 

• Bill Horan — Chairman of the Board for Western Iowa Energy and former President of the Iowa Corn Growers Association — will serve as the chairman
• Mike Naig — Iowa Secretary of Agriculture — will serve as a co-chair
• Craig Hill — former President of the Iowa Farm Bureau — will serve as a co-chair
• Bill Northey — Former Iowa Secretary of Agriculture and Under Secretary of Farm Production and Conservation at USDA — will serve as a co-chair

On their leadership of Farmers for Grassley
Naig: “I’m proud to be a part of this group. I’m supporting Senator Grassley’s re-election because he is the only farmer in this race.” 

Hill: “[Grassley]’s always in front of these issues. He’s speaking for the family farmer, the small farmer, all farmers … If it’s good for agriculture, it’s good for Iowa. Chuck Grassley always has had that foremost in his heart, so that’s why I was very proud to be able to join this campaign and serve as a co-chair.”

On Senator Chuck Grassley
Naig: “What would concern me about this race is I feel like Chuck Grassley has a basis of knowledge and an experience to be able to represent Iowa’s interests in that [regulation] conversation. I feel like Mike Franken is a rubber stamp for a Biden administration that may take us down the wrong path. I think that’s where we need a strong voice of somebody who’s a farmer and understands these issues at a core level.” 

Hill: “I can’t think of an emerging farm issue that has come up during my tenure that [Grassley] hasn’t been in front of. Whether it be for additional research investment to make us more productive, new technology, or from the very beginning of the adoption of renewable fuels, or from being one of the strongest voices for expanding export opportunities around the world. Every one of these issues and many, many more he’s always in front leading.”

On Democrat U.S. Senate Candidate Mike Franken
Naig: “It’s clear that Franken is completely out of touch with rural Iowa. He doesn’t understand rural Iowa, our agriculture. He doesn’t respect it certainly, and frankly, I find his comments about rural Iowa disgusting. He would be yet another yes man for the Biden administration that has failed spectacularly over the last two years, and that’s why I believe Iowa voters and the Iowa agriculture community will reject him at the ballot box.”

Hill: “It’s really incongruent with reality when Mike Franken claims he’s a farmer. I think it’s incongruent with reality when he says that Chuck Grassley is not for the family farmer.” 

BACKGROUND:
Grassley’s Democrat opponent, Mike Franken:

• Supports the goals of the Green New Deal, which would add costly regulations to farm operations across Iowa;
• Supports bringing back the Obama-era Waters of the United States rule;
• Supports President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better progressive agenda, which would increase the federal estate tax and sought to eliminate step-up in basis, adding a double death tax to farms and businesses;
• Opposes making E-15 sales permanent, despite its importance to the environment and Iowa economy;
• Said we need a “different equation for agriculture in the state of Iowa;”
• Said, “it’s too bad that [the hog] industry has made capitalism such that so much of this crucial food supply is exported;” and 
• Referred to hardworking Iowa farmers as “stooges.”

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