Capitol Notebook: Miller-Meeks introduces bill to fund SNAP during government shutdown

Republican Iowa U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks has introduced legislation to fund federal food assistance that is scheduled to dry up next month if the government shutdown continues.

Last week, the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services alerted Iowans who receive benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program that November benefits may not be issued onto cards after the U.S. Department of Agriculture directed all states not to issue November benefits if the government shutdown continues.

Iowa SNAP supports roughly 131,000 Iowa households per month. Thirty-two percent of SNAP recipients in Iowa are children, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services. The program receives $45 million in federal funding for benefits.

Iowa food banks are bracing for the impact of paused SNAP funding as food pantries are already seeing increased visits.

The legislation appropriates funds for the U.S. Department of Agriculture to continue issuing SNAP benefits during the government shutdown. It would provide the Secretary of Agriculture with access to emergency funds to maintain SNAP operations throughout any government shutdown, as well as retroactive authority to restore missed benefits in the event of a lapse.

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Miller-Meeks said the bill would protect a program utilized by rural and working-class Iowans and “ensures families continue to receive the nutrition support they depend on, no matter what happens in Congress.”

“Iowa doesn’t have an abundance of food banks and pantries to absorb a major lapse in SNAP,” Miller-Meeks said in a statement. “Any delay would be catastrophic for thousands of families already struggling with the cost of living. This bill provides the certainty they deserve while Congress works to resolve the shutdown.”

Gov. Kim Reynolds on Thursday said she has directed the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services to begin coordinating with the state’s food banks as federal officials warn that food assistance payments may be delayed if the government shutdown extends into November.

U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., introduced a companion bill in the Senate.

AG Bird leads states in supporting Trump's birthright citizenship policy

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird is co-leading a group of 24 Republican-led states in supporting President Donald Trump’s executive order to end birthright citizenship.

Trump, in January, signed an executive order ending birthright citizenship for children born under certain conditions, including those to undocumented immigrants. Earlier this month, the three-judge panel of the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals became the fifth federal court since June to issue rulings blocking the order.

In September, Trump appealed the rulings to the U.S. Supreme Court and is asking for his executive order to be upheld.

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The brief co-filed with Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti argues that the Fourteenth Amendment was not intended to guarantee citizenship to children born to those in the country illegally or temporarily.

“The Fourteenth Amendment was never intended to reward people for breaking the law,” Bird said in a statement. “That’s why I’m defending President Trump’s executive order to close the birthright citizenship loophole and restore the Fourteenth Amendment’s original intent. I’m grateful to the other States that joined us in defending President Trump’s executive order that removes this dangerous incentive for illegal immigration.”

Along with Iowa and Tennessee, the other states that joined the brief are Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming.

Gazette-Lee Des Moines Bureau