Mariannette Miller-Meeks: Inflation is hurting families, and I have a plan to reduce it
I have felt called to serve our nation from a very young age and have been honored to serve first in uniform and now as a member of the United States House of Representatives.
Having been raised in a family with eight children by a mom who earned her GED and a dad who was an Air Force sergeant, I know what it means to work to make ends meet. I left home at 16 to find a way to put myself through medical school, working and enrolling myself in junior college, enlisting in the U.S. Army and getting a degree in nursing to continue to work night shift.
While serving as a nurse, I worked my way through medical school. Along the way, I married and had two children. After 24 years of combined active duty and Army Reserves, I retired at the rank of lieutenant colonel. I joined the University of Michigan staff and later joined the University of Iowa Department of Ophthalmology faculty. I entered private practice in Ottumwa in 1997, was the first female president of the Iowa Medical Society, and served three years as the director of the Iowa Department of Public Health.
It’s because of my life experiences that I understand why inflation is the number-one source of pain for families, workers, farmers, and Main Street businesspeople in Iowa. I know that runaway spending by congressional Democrats and President Joe Biden have made inflation much worse, making it difficult for many Iowans to afford groceries and fill the gas tank every week. With my Republican colleagues, I am determined to do something about it.
More:Meet Christina Bohannan & Mariannette Miller-Meeks, running for Iowa's 1st Congressional District
If elected to a second term, I will continue working to reduce inflation by putting a stop to out-of-control government spending, unleashing American energy, bolstering domestic manufacturing, prioritizing American innovation, and ensuring that Iowans have access to affordable health care.
Expanding our renewable energy sector to cement our energy independence has been — and will remain — one of my top priorities. I am committed to proving that clean, renewable energy is attainable for every state by using Iowa as a framework to show how it can be done. Doing so is crucial to leave a cleaner, healthier planet for our children and grandchildren, and it will curb our reliance on countries like Russia, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. We have the ability to be energy independent and pay less for the fuel that powers our economy and our lives, but to do so we must invest in American energy.
I am proud of my service, but I know there is much more work to be done. I thank the voters of Iowa’s 1st Congressional District for their confidence in me, and I ask them to return me to Congress to continue to work for them. Together we can ensure Iowa remains the best place to live, work, and to raise a family.
Mariannette Miller-Meeks is the Republican candidate in Iowa's 1st Congressional District. The incumbent was first elected to the office in 2020.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Mariannette Miller-Meeks: Inflation is hurting families
