A local elected official in Iowa is criticizing state lawmakers after they blocked cities and counties from testing direct cash payments to residents, claiming local governments are being handcuffed by state-level "ideological wars."Mandi Remington, a Democratic county supervisor in Johnson County, Iowa, told Fox News Digital that she wanted to test whether giving cash to low-income residents could serve as a feasible poverty-alleviation policy.However, the effort was shut down before it could launch."We are supposedly a home rule state, but that's not what it seems like in practice," Remington said in an interview with Fox News Digital.
"I live in a blue dot in a red state and, essentially, anything that we try to do in these pockets that is not being done in other parts of the state automatically gets pushed back against."Remington’s comments follow an op-ed she wrote arguing that guaranteed income programs "help everyday Iowans." She noted that the Johnson County Board of Supervisors attempted to bring a guaranteed income initiative to their community, championed by Supervisor V Fixmer-Oraiz.ALBUQUERQUE USES WEED TAX TO FUND 'NO-STRINGS-ATTACHED' GUARANTEED INCOME, SPARKING POLICY DEBATERepublicans have pushed back against cash-handout initiatives across the country.(Ozan Kose/AFP via Getty Images)The local push was inspired by similar pilots across the country, including the UpLift trial in central Iowa, which provided 110 families with $500 per month for two years.
Remington argued the policy would build on successes seen in other jurisdictions.Those plans were derailed when Iowa Republicans passed legislation prohibiting local governments from creating or maintaining guaranteed income programs.Republican Gov.
Kim Reynolds signed House File 2319 into law on May 1, 2024.Proponents of the ban, including GOP lawmakers, argued that government cash handouts undermine the American work ethic, subsidize low wages, and foster government dependency."There's no roo...