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Representative Young Checks In With IPR

First-time Representative David Young, a Republican representing Iowa’s third district, stated in his campaign he wanted to ‘dismantle’ Obamacare. Now a looming Supreme Court decision could work towards that goal, by cutting Obamacare insurance for millions of Americans living in states without their own health exchanges.

“It’ll be interesting to see what the Supreme Court does, because not only will we have to act right away—and I believe we need to act in a bipartisan and not a partisan way—but […] we’re going to have to also be in consultation with what the governors are doing and what their plan is to help these folks that are going to be losing that coverage.”

Even so, Young admits there hasn’t been action in Congress to set up an alternative.

“There’s no GOP plan to rally behind right now. And we need one. I don’t want to be a party of ‘No.’ We need solutions as well.”

While Young is ready to bridge local and federal plans for Obamacare, he believes other divides should be cleaner cut. He says Iowa needs to handle clean water issues locally without federal regulation. Young says the EPA is one of many government agencies who have stepped too far in policymaking.

“Some of the most dangerous or interesting lines at the end of a bill are, “And the secretaries shall issue such and such rules and regulations pursuant to this act,” and that’s kind of a blank check. Congress needs to take that policy back.”

In this River to River interview, host Ben Kieffer talks with Representative Young about Obamacare, environmental restrictions, and the bills he’s introduced in his first term. And in the second half of the hour, Kieffer is joined by Auriel Willette, a researcher in food science and human nutrition at Iowa State University, about breakthroughs in Alzheimer’s research.

Ben Kieffer is the host of IPR's River to River