KDSN RADIO News
Iowa’s US House delegation votes to reopen federal gov’t
The four Iowan Republicans who serve in the U.S. House have voted for the spending plan to reopen the federal government.
Congressman Randy Feenstra, who represents Iowa’s fourth district, said in a written statement issued right after he cast his vote this evening that Democrats were pushing an “out-of-touch agenda” and the shutdown was “a political stunt that caused unnecessary harm to Iowa families, farmers, seniors and small businesses.” Congressman Zach Nunn represents Iowa’s third district and in a written statement tonight Nunn said the deal the president is scheduled to sign later tonight was “on the table more than a month ago” and his “Democratic colleagues need to understand” the gridlock of the past 43 days cost Iowans who missed paychecks, lost access to services and worried about how to feed their families.
First district Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks said in her written statement that she voted to “keep the government open because in a shutdown, nobody wins and the American people lose and she is “relieved this senseless shutdown is finally over.”
Congresswoman Ashley Hinson, who represents Iowa’s second district, released a video statement earlier today. “Democrats kept us shut down for over 40 days. They left our military and their families in the lurch. They forced air safety officials to go without pay,” Hinson said,” …all while attempting to use people’s health care as ‘leverage.'”
Democrats had been pushing for a deal to include health care subsidies for Americans with higher incomes who live in states where insurance costs are high. “Health care should never be used as leverage, in my mind, because I know this is not a game to Americans. To Iowans, it’s not a game,” Hinson said in the video recorded on the steps of the U.S. Capitol. “…Now that the government is reopening, I think we should all be working together on some bipartisan solutions and reforms that will actually lower premiums.”
The top Democrat in the House said House Republicans “are burying their heads in the sand” and “failed to address the affordability crisis” faced by millions of Americans buying insurance policies for next year. The Senate’s Republican leader has promised to hold a vote in the Senate on that issue by the second week of December.
