The “One Big Beautiful Bill” President Trump signed a year ago is one of the flash points in Iowa’s third congressional district race.
The measure eliminated taxes on overtime and tips and preserved the income tax cuts Trump approved in 2017. Republican Congressman Zach Nunn of Ankeny, who’s running for re-election this year, said it means Iowans get to keep more of their own money. “I’ll tell you what Iowans do with it. They spend it on their families, they spend it on their farms, they spend it on their businesses, but most importantly they invest right here,” Nunn said. “That’s how you grow an economy.”
State Senator Sarah Trone Garriott of West Des Moines, the Democrat running against Nunn, said any tax savings Americans got from that have been erased by Trump’s tariff policies and the war with Iran. “We need someone who is going to make life more affordable and not jack up the cost,” Trone Garriott said, “and we need someone who is going to bring this war to an end, not cheer it on.”
Trone Garriott said the “Big Beautiful Bill” Nunn voted for also included cuts to Medicaid. “We’ve already had three clinics close in the district and we’ve got two hospitals on the endangered list,” Trone Garriott said. “Thousands of our neighbors are losing access to health care because of what he’s done in Washington. We can’t let that go on.”
Nunn points to the $50 billion in the bill for health care centers in rural America over the next five years. He said over $200 million of that is going to Iowa facilities, many of which are getting equipment to screen patients for cancer. “My mom is a survivor. I know that it has touched all of us, our family, our friends. Being able to take care of it on our terf, with our solutions is a huge step forward. We just needed Washington to listen to us,” Nunn said. “I’m glad, working together, we delivered.”
Nunn and Trone Garriott made their comments in separate speeches on the Des Moines Register’s Political Soapbox at the State Fair.