State Senator Liz Bennett and State Representative Aime Wichtendahl co-authored this commentary, which first appeared in the Cedar Rapids Gazette. Bennett represents Senate district 39 and is District 39 and is the ranking member of the Senate Technology Committee. Wichtendahl represents House district 80 and serves on the House Economic Growth and Technology Committee.

On January 31, 2025, the largest data breach in U.S. history occurred when Elon Musk accessed the United States Treasury systems. The data accessed is, in effect, the nation’s checkbook. Financial transactions detailing the who, what, where, and when of every payment the United States makes, as well as the Social Security numbers of millions of Americans were compromised.

According to reports, then-unnamed affiliates of Musk were also granted access and external hard drives were brought in to capture the data for offsite storage. While these affiliates are now being called employees of the “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE), none of them have gone through the rigorous background checks used to vet other federal employees at this level.

Aime Wichtendahl is a member of the Hiawatha City Council and first openly trans woman elected to government in Iowa.

When Iowa Republicans gained a trifecta in 2017, I told our city manager, “I don’t know what their economic agenda is, but I bet it has something to do with gay marriage and abortion.”

Fast forward six years and little has changed—except the legislature devotes extra time attacking transgender youth to feed their lives into the never-ending culture war dumpster fire.

Aime Wichtendahl is a city council member in Hiawatha (Linn County) and Iowa’s first openly trans elected official. -promoted by Laura Belin

A few years ago, I stopped into a gas station near my house to grab a soda. As I was preparing to pay for it, I noticed that the cost of a bottle had increased slightly so I asked the clerk about it.

“Everything goes up except the wages,” he said.

“Hopefully that wouldn’t be true for much longer,” I replied.

At that time Linn County had initiated a plan to raise the minimum wage to $10.25. I had served on the working group that made the recommendation to the Board of Supervisors. And while $10.25 wasn’t yet a livable wage, it was a start.