Greenwald Vows to Represent Middle Income Families

Press Release

Greenwald vows to represent middle income families
Cresco Times

Becky Greenwald, a candidate for United States Representative in District 4, stopped at Wildflower Art & Frame to speak to area residents a week ago.
A group of six Howard County residents showed up for Greenwald's campaign stop in downtown Cresco. Greenwald, a Democrat, is running against Republican incumbent Tom Latham.

"We never planned to match him in money," Greenwald told the small group of listeners. "We're just going to outwork them."

The race between Greenwald and Latham, who has held the District 4 position since he was elected in 1994, was recently named one of the top 12 races to watch in the country by Time Magazine.

If Greenwald wins the election, she would become Iowa's first Congresswoman. Iowa is among only four other U.S. states that have never elected a woman to Congress.
Greenwald, 56, is new to the political scene. She was employed as a seed company marketing executive for several years, including work with both Pioneer and Garst Seed Company. She has spent 22 years working in agriculture.

In an interview with the Times Plain Dealer earlier this month, Greenwald, a fifth generation Iowan, said she decided to run for Congress in part because of "knowing Latham was not supporting me or so many other Iowans," when it came to important issues. If elected, Greenwald says she would be an "independent thinker in Washington."

"I want to really represent all of us in the 4th District, particularly the middle income families," Greenwald said during her campaign stop at Wildflower Art & Frame Oct. 22.
"The middle class is under assault here," Greenwald told the TPD in her earlier interview.

During a brief question and answer period following Greenwald's speech, Cresco resident Jeff Murphy asked Greenwald if she was in favor of the recent economic bailout plan passed by Congress. Greenwald responded that she publicly announced on the Wednesday before the Friday vote in Congress that she would have voted for the second bailout package that passed if she were serving in the House.

"These fat cat CEOs - nobody wanted to make decisions to bail them out," Greenwald said.

But, if Congress stood by and did nothing, Greenwald said it would have negatively affected all Americans.

"It's not going to solve the problem overnight," Greenwald acknowledged.
Greenwald said the risk of doing nothing was "greater than the risk of doing something."

Greenwald also touched on her stance on healthcare. She agrees with Presidential candidate Barack Obama's proposed healthcare plan, including his focus on preventative medicine, coverage of pre-existing conditions and providing healthcare plans that are affordable and accessible for every American.

"It should be against the law to not cover pre-existing conditions," Greenwald said.
She also spoke about the importance of funding education programs such as Head Start and making available sufficient grants and other types of funding for college students throughout the state.

"We have to invest in our next generation," Greenwald said in her earlier interview with the Times Plain Dealer.

When asked about her position on renewable energy, Greenwald said she would take the $18 billion in subsidies currently being given to oil companies and put it toward developing renewable energy. She said at this point she is not ready to say if she is for or against nuclear power, because she does not have all the facts. She is in favor of biodiesel, solar and wind energy.

Greenwald's stop in Cresco last week was her 88th campaign stop in Iowa since Sept. 1.

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