Federal spending bill contains $28M for E. Iowa projects

Iowa Republican U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson voted against a $1.7 trillion spending package that includes nearly $28 million in earmarked funding Hinson requested for projects in her district.

Hinson, in a statement, said House Republicans “were shut out of the last-minute negotiations, and the end product did not respect taxpayers or address the dire border crisis.”

The bill — which also includes emergency assistance to Ukraine, a 4.6 percent pay raise for the military and funding to expand eligibility for health care services and benefits to veterans exposed to toxins during their service — passed mostly along party lines in the Democratically controlled Congress and is headed to President Joe Biden for his expected signature.

Iowa’s other Republican U.S. House members, Reps. Randy Feenstra and Mariannette Miller-Meeks, also voted against the spending package. U.S. Rep. Cindy Axne, the lone Democrat in Iowa’s congressional delegation, voted in favor.

Hinson, who serves on the House Appropriations Committee, said she opposed the bill because it included wasteful spending and failed to secure the border.

The bill transfers $800 million from U.S. Customs and Border Protection to the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Emergency Food and Shelter humanitarian program to help cities and organizations struggling to provide for thousands of migrants arriving from the southern border seeking asylum.

And it also provides less funding for Border Patrol agents, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and border technology, Hinson told reporters during a conference call Thursday ahead of her vote.

Rather than funding immigration enforcement or providing more resources to customs and Border Patrol, the Biden administration is funding initiatives that “further incentivize and reward illegal immigration,” Hinson said.

Hinson also pointed to funding for gender equity programs as well as $2.3 million for the U.S. Department of Education to contact student loan borrowers to let them know they may qualify for cancellation of student loan debt and to encourage borrowers to enroll in a qualifying repayment plan.

“These are not appropriate or acceptable uses of taxpayer dollars,” Hinson wrote in her weekly congressional newsletter.

But 13 of the 15 community project funding requests Hinson put forward were included in the omnibus spending bill.

The process — commonly known as earmarks — allows members of Congress to direct federal funds for specific projects in their home states and districts. Each member could submit 15 eligible projects to receive federal funding for the 2023 fiscal year.

The 13 Eastern Iowa earmarks included in the final federal spending package are:

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