WASHINGTON — A delegation of Mason City and Clear Lake community and business leaders has returned from a three-day trip to Washington DC as part of an annual lobbying trip to meet with federal lawmakers and officials.
One of their stops was to visit with north-central Iowa congresswoman Ashley Hinson, who says a number of topics were discussed. “I had a chance to talk with them about the tax cut bill and the certainty that would provide. I think one of the things that was communicated to us is that businesses need that certainty, it’s one of the most challenging things for them right now. As we’re working through our trade deals on the global stage with President Trump and his team, our teams are working on diligently getting the tax cut and jobs act provisions from 2017 not only passed, but we want to make those permanent.”
Hinson says they also had a great discussion about the regulatory environment around businesses. She says her meeting with the Mason City-Clear Lake delegation came right after a hearing with the Federal Trade Commission chairman talking about the FTC getting back to protecting consumers and not focusing on rule-making and overregulating. “One of the provisions that I think went over very well in the room is when I said ‘hey, get me your list of regulations that are causing problems for your businesses, whether your John Deere or Cabin Coffee Company, and the FTC is taking all of those through its website so they can go back in and actually check to see if they are anti-competitive or if they actually exist to protect consumers.”
The group was made up of 17 local leaders representing the cities and Chambers of Commerce of Mason City and Clear Lake, as well as the North Iowa Corridor Economic Development Corporation, Visit Mason City and Main Street Mason City.
