INDIANOLA, Iowa — Congresswoman Cindy Axne told a group of Iowans Thursday that she may not be the most vocal member of Congress on some issues, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t working on them.
Axne met with a small group of voters at Holy Grounds Cafe at Simpson College to update them on the work she is doing in Congress and to ask what it is that they want her to focus on.
A campus minister from Simpson College told Axne he hears from students on campus that they are anxious about climate change and the seeming inaction of elected officials to address. He included Axne among that group for her focus on finding solutions that can actually pass through Congress.
But Axne says she isn’t backing away from that approach. “Listen, I want us to get places but we also need to make sure that it’s in a way that we can get it done. And that it’s a smart way and we are working on those issues,” Axne said. Axne has not endorsed the Green New Deal bill introduced by a small group of Democrats earlier this year. Instead she says she is waiting on the House Energy and Commerce Committee to release the plan it has been working on for months.
In the meantime she says she climate change is on her mind in every bill she helps craft. “We passed out of Financial Services a bill that would require large publicly traded companies to annually disclose the impact of climate change on their business,” Axne says, “I think we need to know first and foremast what kind of impact we’re having so we can address it.”
Axne was pressed by another Iowan why she hasn’t publicly endorsed impeaching President Trump for alleged obstruction of justice for interfering in Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian manipulation of the 2016 election. Axne says she still hasn’t determined where she stands on the issue because there is still work to be done. She says five congressional committees are conducting investigations and those need to finish before a decision is made.
“If we continue to not get what we need I know that everyone is ready to take it up a level. We are absolutely moving ahead with the investigations in areas that we need and that is what we should be doing,” Axne says, “What I’m in favor of doing is what we’re doing: executing our executive authority. What the speaker is supportive of is that we follow through with the authority that we have.”