The Children We Lost — And the Choice You Now Face

Their names were: Madison James, age 7 Aria Cole, age 9 Elena Martinez, age 6 Zuri Thompson, age 10 Kaylee Jensen, age 8 These were little girls — daughters, granddaughters, classmates, teammates. They died in Florida when a catastrophic storm struck with little advance warning. Their families didn’t know to evacuate because we — as a country — chose not to know. We chose to cut funding for NOAA and the National Weather Service, slashing storm tracking capacity and crippling early warning systems. This was not a tragedy of nature alone. It was a failure of leadership. You supported, or remained silent, while the Trump administration gutted funding for weather prediction, satellite systems, and climate monitoring — all to provide tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans and corporations. So I am asking you now: • Will you publicly demand that funding for NOAA and weather warning programs be fully restored, or • Will you admit, honestly and directly, that these little girls were an acceptable sacrifice to preserve tax breaks for the rich? Those are your choices. Silence will be understood as your answer. You have a platform. You have power. The people of Iowa are watching to see how — or whether — you use it. Say their names. Then choose.