Grassley: Threats to shut down government over policy goals are ‘idiotic’

DES MOINES — With only a few days left for Congress to avert a government shutdown, Iowa U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley said it is “idiotic” to hold up government funding over certain policy goals and argued a shutdown would hurt American taxpayers.

Grassley, a Republican, joined Senate Democrats and most Republicans Tuesday night to advance a stopgap funding bill to keep the government open until mid-November. The bill, which includes around $6 billion in funding for Ukraine, is not likely to gain enough support in the Republican-controlled House to pass.

Some Republicans have pushed for any government funding package to include key conservative policy items like tighter border security and cuts to Ukraine aid. With a slim Republican House majority, those representatives can tank any budget measures that don’t have support from Democrats.

Without a short-term funding bill agreed to by both chambers, the U.S. federal government will shut down on Sunday. Certain essential workers would still report for work but will not get paid until the shutdown ends. Nonessential workers would be furloughed without pay.

While Grassley said he also wants more border security, he told reporters on Wednesday holding up government funding to pursue policy goals is “idiotic” and does not often end in success.

“People say they want to accomplish ABC, or XYZ, and so you shut the government down,” he said. “And then a few days later … you get so much heat you open government up again and you didn’t accomplish ABC or XYZ.”

  Buy Photo

Grassley said a shutdown would be costly and prevent Congress from carrying out important duties that are funded by taxpayers.

“Just keeping the government open is so, so very important,” he said. “ … It costs money to shut down government, it costs money to open up government.”

Grassley said he supports passing legislation that would set up automatic short-term funding bills, called “continuing resolutions,” so the government could not be shut down over budget impasses.

He said that would “take the wind out of the sails” of Republican representatives that are holding up budget votes over border security measures.

Iowa Democrats criticized Republicans on Tuesday for failing to pass a budget and said Iowa’s representatives should work with Democrats to avert a shutdown. In a press call, Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rita Hart said a shutdown would affect Iowa families, small business owners and farmers.

“Republicans are busy playing political games and trying to ram through massive cuts that have no shot of making it through the Senate,” Hart said.

Nunn introduces measures to dock Congress’ pay during shutdown

Iowa U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn, a Republican who represents Iowa’s 3rd District, introduced a pair of bills on Wednesday that he said would “hold politicians accountable” during a government shutdown.

Nunn has been critical of the budgeting process and called for his fellow Republicans to pass a budget on time.

  Buy Photo

One proposed bill, called the No Work, No Pay Act, would effectively suspend pay for members of Congress during a shutdown by fining them the equivalent of a day’s pay each day the government is closed. Members of Congress, who are paid $175,000 a year, are generally still paid during a government shutdown, and the 27th Amendment to the Constitution prevents changes in compensation from taking effect until the following election.

Another bill, the People Before Politics Act, would ban members of Congress from fundraising for their re-election campaign during a shutdown, according to a release from Nunn’s office.

“Our government is supposed to be of the people, by the people, and for the people,” Nunn said in a written statement. “Well, the people have had enough of greedy, self-aggrandizing clowns putting their own personal profit ahead of the American people. D.C. politicians need to play by the same rules as the rest of the American people.”

Should the government shut down, Iowa U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson would have her pay withheld. According to Hinson’s office, if the government shuts down and active-duty military personnel, federal law enforcement and others are at work without pay, politicians in Washington, D.C. should not be paid either.

Hinson, a Republican from Marion, has repeatedly said she wants to avert a government shutdown and supports a short-term government funding bill that will allow the House to continue passing individual appropriations bills, and then negotiate them with the Senate for the most conservative outcome possible. Hinson believes Congress can pass conservative spending bills without shutting the government down so that military and law enforcement don’t have to work without pay, farmers don’t lose access to USDA programs, service doesn’t slow at the VA and homeland security funding does not lapse.

A member of the House Appropriations Committee, Hinson said her approach to the government funding process has always been to invest in Iowans’ priorities while cutting wasteful spending, and that same standard will apply throughout the current process and negotiations.

“The government spending process is broken, and taxpayers deserve better than the chaos and dysfunction unfolding in Washington right now,” Hinson said. “I am laser-focused on averting a shutdown and delivering the most fiscally conservative funding legislation possible.”

Tom Barton, of The Gazette, contributed to this report.