KDSN RADIO News
Feenstra says House GOP sticking with status quo spending plan
Iowa Congressman Randy Feenstra says with each passing day, more Iowans are being affected by the federal government shutdown.
Feenstra cites the closure of Farm Service Agency offices as an example. “Farmers are doing harvest. They need their acreage paperwork processed,” Feenstra said. “Our troops are not going to get paid as of October 15, which is absolutely appalling to me.”
Feenstra and other House Republicans met by phone today. “We can’t negotiate with ourselves,” Feenstra said. “I mean, we’re really waiting on six senators from the Democratic Party to come along and say, ‘Yeah, let’s get this country back open again and let’s talk about what we want to do.'”
House Republicans passed a spending plan on September 19 to fund the federal government through mid-November. “I am so frustrated because this is all about partisan antics,” Feenstra said. “We’re not asking for anything. We didn’t add anything to the bill. We’re just simply saying, ‘Can we continue the same budget that we always had?’ And the Democrats said, ‘No, we want to add $1.5 trillion more.’ Just pass the current budget. That’s all we’re asking.”
Feenstra indicated the “status quo” spending plan is as far as House Republicans will go. “We already have $37 trillion of debt, and we’re not going to go down that path…They’re asking for so much and we can’t do it as a country,” Feenstra said. “…We’re at a very dividing marker in our country right now. We’re not asking for anything. They’re asking for a lot and, you know, we’re going to keep it shut down for the sake of our country and the taxpayers to get this right.”
Senate Democrats have called for including an extension of tax credits for about 22 million Americans who use the Affordable Care Act marketplace to buy insurance. “Health care and the tax credits and all that stuff really doesn’t end until December 31, so we have time to negotiate and talk, but we want to do it while government is open,” Feenstra said. “And they’re saying: ‘Nope. We’re going to keep government shut down.'”
Feenstra, a Republican from Hull, formed an exploratory committee this spring to begin raising money for a race for governor and is expected to formally launch his campaign soon.
(Reporting by Woody Gottburg, KSCJ, Sioux City, and Carson Schubert, KSOU, Sioux Center)
