Iowa’s Ashley Hinson rejects Trump shutdown demands

Iowa Republican U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson said she is unwilling to shut down the federal government unless Congress passes legislation requiring that people show proof of citizenship to register to vote, rejecting demands by GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump.

The House on Wednesday rejected House Speaker Mike Johnson’s proposal that would have linked temporary funding for the federal government with a mandate that states require proof of citizenship when people register to vote.

Funding for many federal departments and agencies is due to expire on Sept. 30, unless Republicans and Democrats can reach a deal on short-term funding. Lawmakers are not close to completing work on the dozen annual appropriations bills to fund federal agencies when the new budget year begins Oct. 1, requiring them to approve a stopgap measure to prevent a partial shutdown.

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Johnson’ plan called for extending funding at current spending levels for six months, through March 2025, and tied it to the SAVE Act, the Donald Trump-backed legislation that would require proof of citizenship for voter registration. It is already illegal and rare for noncitizens to vote. The bill failed Wednesday by a vote of 202 to 220, with 14 Republicans and all but three Democrats opposed. Every member of Iowa’s all-Republican House delegation voted for the funding resolution.

Democrats want a “clean” three-month funding resolution with nothing attached, calling the SAVE Act a “poison pill” that can’t pass Congress. Many lawmakers in both parties say they don’t want to punt the annual spending bills for fiscal 2025 until March.

Trump, who this week endorsed Hinson’s re-election, posted on his social media platform Truth Social hours before the vote demanding Republicans shut down the government unless the SAVE Act becomes law.

"If Republicans don’t get the SAVE Act, and every ounce of it, they should not agree to a Continuing Resolution in any way, shape, or form," Trump wrote, making the baseless claim that tens of thousands of undocumented immigrants will vote in the upcoming election.

"Only American Citizens should be voting in our Most Important Election in History, or any Election! A Vote must happen BEFORE the Election, not AFTER the Election when it is too late," Trump added. "BE SMART, REPUBLICANS, YOU’VE BEEN PUSHED AROUND LONG ENOUGH BY THE DEMOCRATS. DON’T LET IT HAPPEN AGAIN."

Hinson, speaking to reporters Friday morning, said the government funding process is broken and she “will work to prevent a harmful government shutdown.”

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“I think it goes without saying, but I feel like it's deja vu,” said Hinson, who serves on the House budget writing committee. “We had the same conversation last year. … Iowans deserve better.”

She said she worked to get 12 single-subject budget bills out of committee and across the House floor.

“They would actually cut wasteful spending, and I believe they should have been voted on individually and enacted,” Hinson said. “Continuing resolutions are never my first choice, but when I look at what we tried to pass this week, that CR would have prevented a big, giant Christmas omnibus package. And it would have stopped Democrats in December from piling on more spending until we can get President Trump back in the White House. So I will continue working to ensure we get the most conservative outcome possible, and I will work to prevent a harmful government shutdown.”

Hinson: ‘TikTok is a threat to our national security’

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Hinson also defended her support of bipartisan legislation signed into law by President Joe Biden in April that would force TikTok’s Chinese parent company to divest from its U.S. operations or face a nationwide ban.

In a two-hour hearing earlier this week, lawyers for the social media platform argued that its current business structure is protected by its free speech rights under the First Amendment and that the government’s argument against Chinese influence over TikTok’s algorithms is unsupported. TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, is based in China, an adversary of the United States.

Trump has said he fears that banning the social media app would only serve to empower TikTok competitor Facebook, which he labeled an “enemy of the people,” and that there are ways to address the national security and data security issues without banning TikTok.

Hinson, who serves on the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, reiterated her concerns around national security and data privacy. TikTok’s critics argue the app could put U.S. customer data at risk because Chinese law requires China's companies to share information with the government.

Hinson and backers have said the goal is not a ban but a forced divestiture by ByteDance because of concerns that top Chinese government officials have access to American users' data and could use such access to manipulate TikTok’s algorithm to sow divisiveness and discord, poison U.S. public opinion and compromise the cellphones of millions of American users. Hinson also raised concerns about the platform's potential for election interference.

TikTok maintains that it operates independently and protects U.S. data through a partnership with Texas-based tech company Oracle that allows U.S. user data to be stored on Oracle's cloud. Oracle acts as the data center for U.S. TikTok users.

“TikTok is a threat to our national security first and foremost. So that is what that bill recognizes and puts into place, I think, a very fair path to allow them to make the right decision here, to divest their spy tool on hundreds of millions of American phones,” Hinson said. “And they can sell it to an American company. They can sell it to a company that's not one of our adversaries. But that's what has to happen.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Comments: (319) 398-8499; tom.barton@thegazette.com