Transportation policy and workforce needs tied to housing and health care will top the agenda when Central Iowa business and community leaders travel to Washington, D.C., this week to meet with congressional leaders and other federal officials on the Greater Des Moines Partnership’s 2024 DMDC trip.  

More than 200 people are registered to leave Des Moines Wednesday morning for the 45th annual three-day policy event, according to the Partnership.

The trip allows public and private sector leaders in the economic development organization’s 11-county region to meet Iowa’s two U.S. senators, four members of Congress and their staffers in one place to present and advocate for policy solutions that affect the region.

The Partnership’s 2024 federal policy agenda, released in March, has five featured priorities. Two are recurring priorities that the Partnership delegation has brought to Washington in past years: closing the funding gap to expand Des Moines International Airport and designating U.S. Highway 65 as an interstate.

The other three priorities are:

• Housing: The expansion of housing options through funding and policies, including a Conversion Tax Credit, that incentivize communities and employers to invest in new and existing housing for all Iowans.
• Child Care: Additional investment and policies that increase child care options for families and promote stabilization in the child care workforce, including the availability of 7A and 504 microloans to nonprofit child care providers.
• Immigration: Modernized immigration system and policies that support an inclusive population to meet workforce needs, including the expansion of the Conrad 30 Waiver Program.

David Stark, chief of government affairs and philanthropy at UnityPoint Health and the Partnership’s 2024 board chair, said Friday that priorities like the $570 million airport expansion currently underway – which will use a mix of state funding, bond funds from Polk County, federal Airport Improvement Program funds and money from the federal bipartisan infrastructure law – likely would not be where it is without the D.C. advocacy trip.

“One of the things I think we do better and different than many other places in the country is you’ll see 200-plus, 200-strong, business leaders, civic leaders, not-for-profit leaders, that are taking their democratic responsibility seriously,” Stark said. “We’re going to meet with our legislative delegation [and] talk about the issues in Iowa in a civil way. In all the vitriol that’s there today, you will see civil conversations that we are known for as Iowans, and this trip exemplifies that.”

In an email Monday, Partnership Vice President of Communications Kyle Oppenhuizen confirmed the four policy team leads for this year’s trip:

• Health care: Stark.
• City of Perry: Sven Peterson, city administrator for the city of Perry.
• Small business: Andrea Woodard, director of regional community integration for the Partnership.
• Designating U.S. 65 as an interstate: Mark Snell, Warren County supervisor.

As the city of Perry braces for the June closure of the Tyson Fresh Meats Inc. production plant, the town’s largest employer, conversations in Washington could include determining which federal programs could help in the recovery, according to the Partnership.

“We’re trying to be the facilitator, the partner,” said Ryan Moon, the Partnership’s director of government relations and public policy. “But there’s a massive difference when I’m talking to Sen. [Charles] Grassley, (R-Iowa), about the city of Perry and Tyson than when there’s an actual individual from the city of Perry talking about the impact. That’s why I love this trip. We have a diverse set of people and experts who come and help advocate.”

Health care access and workforce
Stark said that while in Washington he will push officials to extend a COVID-19 pandemic-era policy that would allow more Medicare patients to receive telehealth services. That program is scheduled to sunset Dec. 31. According to Stark, UnityPoint had 168,000 virtual visits in 2023.

“That is an access issue for rural Iowa, urban Iowa, suburban Iowa,” he said.

Stark also hopes the trip will result in legislation to boost Iowa’s physician population, which is facing a shortage.

He’s scheduled to meet with Sen. Joni Ernst and Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, who are co-sponsoring bills that will expand the Conrad 30 waiver program, he said. The program currently allows states to recruit 30 qualified foreign medical graduates to apply for a waiver of the two-year foreign residence requirement upon completion of the J-1 medical visa visitor program.

The Partnership is advocating to allow more medical professionals through the program and to secure more waiver slots for Iowa as a way to increase access to trained health care professionals in the state. Stark said not all states use their 30 allotted waiver spots.

“Quite a few states don’t,” Stark said. “So our policy approach on this is to do two things. First, expand the Conrad 30 program to add more slots. Two, and we’re working closely with Sen. Ernst on this, is reallocate slots from the states that don’t use it to the states that do. Iowa would be a net importer of that.”

Stay tuned for further coverage of the DMDC trip in the Business Record Daily this week.