Solving Iowa’s problems like accessibility to rural health care will require investment in federal immigration reform and public education, Democratic congressional candidate Christina Bohanan said Wednesday’s Great Des Moines Partnership. He spoke to business owners and members on the forum.
Bohanan, the Iowa City state representative elected in Iowa’s reorganized 1st congressional district, said he would work to address labor shortages and hospital and school closures if elected. .
She’s playing Republican Congressman Marianette Miller Meeks, who currently represents Iowa’s Second District. Miller-Meeks spoke at her series of partnership forums earlier this month. At both events, candidates discussed their willingness to work across the aisle.One of the issues Bohanan said she would like to tackle with the Republican Party is immigration reform.
“I think the whole of Washington, D.C. has failed immigration,” she said. “Democrat, Republican, I mean, I have a very independent view of it.
Reforming the U.S. immigration system would help more workers come to places like Iowa, she said. She advocates increasing the percentage of immigrants accepted into the country each year for labor and economic reasons.
She also said she wanted to change existing immigration systems like the J-1 visa. A J-1 visa requires a foreign-born physician studying medicine in the United States to return to her home country for two years to qualify for another US visa.
The government now grants 30 J-1 visa waivers each year, allowing immigrant doctors to stay in the United States after completing their training, Bohannan said. But that number is arbitrary and should be increased to bring more qualified medical professionals to the provinces, she said.
“These are very talented people,” she said. “They have become members of our community community leaders and are very active and enthusiastic, serving underserved areas of Iowa.”
Hospitals and other industries that require a skilled workforce are also suffering as the state cuts investment in higher education, she said. Bohanan, a law professor at the University of Iowa, has criticized the state for not keeping up with inflation when it comes to funding Iowa’s public university system.
“These are the crown jewels of this state, but they are also the source of our workforce,” she said.
As a member of Congress, she will invest more in STEM-focused education, she said. We also need to invest in education for children, she said.
Bohannan opposed Miller-Meeks’ vote against the CHIPS and Science Act, which would allocate more than $52 billion to semiconductor chip manufacturing facilities and equipment. Democrats said one of the few things she agreed with former President Donald Trump was that they needed to be “tougher on China,” and that the friction between Taiwan and China has forced the US to buy semiconductors. He said he was concerned about relying on Taiwan for manufacturing.
She said she hopes the government will encourage more domestic manufacturing operations and will work to bring industries such as semiconductor manufacturing to Iowa.
“We could be a great place for semiconductor manufacturing,” said Bohanan. “We have everything … what it takes here to be the place for it. I want it back.”
READ MORE: Miller Meeks and Bohanan Fight Over Abortion in District 1 Debate
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