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(Des Moines, IA) -- Iowans in the 1st Congressional District will have a chance to vote between U.S. Representative Marianette Miller-Meeks and Iowa State Representative Christina Bohannan this November.
In an Iowa PBS-hosted debate, Representative Bohannan spoke on a priority of hers: college affordability.
"We really have to focus on college affordability for all, and for future generations," says Bohannan. "One time debt relief just doesn't do that. It doesn't accomplish that goal."
Congresswoman Miller-Meeks has her eyes set on immigration.
"It's a system that needs to be fixed," says Miller-Meeks. "We have thousands of people that are waiting to come to this country legally, who want to come to this country legally, that I think can help with workforce."
The two candidates both say the U.S. should learn from COVID-19 on how to handle future pandemics. Representative Miller-Meeks wants the federal government to focus on creating more PPE.
"We need to prepare a strategic national stockpile where you rotate supplies in-and-out, so you have supplies that are not expired when they are needed," says Miller-Meeks. "We [need to] develop our testing programs. We had difficulties getting testing off for the COVID-19 pandemic."
State Representative Bohannan agrees, saying not preparing for the next pandemic will lead to more shortages, such as what Iowans are experiencing right now.
"There are still challenges," says Bohannan. "Obviously, we're still facing a lot of fallout. We have workforce issues. We have business issues and supply-chain issues, inflation issues."
What should be the first bill voted upon in January?
That was the final question posed to Miller-Meeks and Bohannan in Monday's debate.
"To get rid of 87,000 new IRS agents," answers Miller-Meeks.
"I want a rural health care initiative that will help places like Keokuk that just lost their hospital, to invest in that rural healthcare and to bring more physicians and health care professionals to Iowa," responds Bohannan.
The full debate can be found below.