Iowa Politics with Jeff Stein -- Fri. Oct. 23, 2026

Last minute, money push.

I'm Jeff Stein with today's Iowa Politics Report.

Now you might think that title means I'm going to talk about all the outside groups, all the candidates, all the money used to promote or tear down candidates in the election which is barely a week away.

Well actually this last minute money push has to do with what an interest group is hoping politicians won't do.

The AM radio for every vehicle act did pass the U.S.

House and has the votes in the Senate on a bipartisan basis.

But yet, as with so many things at the door of the Senate, the bill has stalled.

In the third quarter alone, organizations opposed to the bill spent about $6.3 million to lobby against it.

Toyota was in for 1.7 million of that, Honda more than a half million Volkswagen nearly that much.

A few other tech groups were also in for six figures each.

Why?

Because if car makers drop free radio from their cars, you'll have to pay for streaming services in order to avoid silence, and the automakers get a substantial piece of that revenue.

Tesla has tried to drop both AM and FM radio from its models.

Volkswagen and Volvo have already dropped AM from some of theirs.

Normally I'd say it's not Congress' business to tell an industry what to do, but this has to do with free delivery of important information.

Without the dead spots in rural areas we have with streaming and cell phone reception.

The auto industry and their friends spent nearly double the amount working against the bill than broadcasters spent promoting it.

So obviously, it's an uphill battle.

We've lost so many things we used to count on.

Reliable home telephone service personally comes to mind.

Let's draw the line here and keep free radio in cars.

And that's the Iowa Politics Report for Friday, October 23 on Twitter, Instagram, Gitter, Threads and Truth Social at Iowa Politics.

I'm Jeff Stein on News Talk 1540, KXEL.