‘Tremendously disappointing’: House rejects bill to avoid government shutdown as deadline nears

Iowa’s all-Republican U.S. House delegation voted Friday on a failed last-ditch plan to keep the federal government temporarily open as the funding deadline nears.

Federal government funding expires after midnight on Saturday.

The U.S. House on Friday failed to pass a short-term spending measure, known as a continuing resolution, that would have kept the government funded for 30 days while cutting funding by 30 percent for all agencies except the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs.

The resolution failed by a vote of 198 to 232. Twenty-one Republicans joined all Democrats in voting against the legislation.

Democrats argue that will lead to dramatic cuts to an array of vital programs like federal housing subsidies, Head Start and many others.

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“I think it’s tremendously disappointing that a handful of Republicans and Democrats voted down a stopgap funding measure for the federal government,” Iowa U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, a Republican from Ottumwa, told reporters on a conference call Friday afternoon. “We’re going to continue to try to work and make sure if there is a government shutdown that it is as brief as possible.”

Miller-Meeks added she plans to continue to work with leadership in "persuading colleagues on both sides of the aisle to come together" and pass a continuing resolution.

Iowa U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson, a Republican from Marion, told reporters Friday Congress can and should keep the government open so troops and law enforcement are paid, border security operations continue, and essential services for veterans and seniors are not interrupted.

“This is not a game,” Hinson said in a statement following the vote. “Taxpayers should not bear the consequences of Washington's chaos and dysfunction. I am committed to working on solutions to keep the government open while advancing fiscally conservative spending legislation.”

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The resolution also included a Republican measure to codify controversial Trump-era border policies that would make various changes to immigration law, including by imposing limits on asylum eligibility, which are a nonstarter with the Democratically-controlled Senate and White House.

Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and his allies had hoped the threat of a shutdown could help conservatives with their push to limit federal spending and combat illegal immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border.

The bill also called for the creation of a commission to study the federal debt. It would recommend changes to improve solvency for some programs, such as Medicare and Social Security.

“The way I see it, our troops, our veterans and families shouldn’t be collateral in this process,” Hinson told reporters Friday during a conference call. “And so my message to my colleagues is that we can pass these conservative spending bills, and we should do it without shutting the government down. I would also say to them that I think a shutdown gives up leverage when it comes to negotiating going forward.”

Both Hinson and Miller-Meeks noted a shutdown ends up costing the federal government billions more in back pay to furloughed workers, extra administrative work, lost revenue and late fees on interest payments, and further reduces the productivity of federal government agencies.

"Let’s fund the government. Let’s pass good conservative policy to secure our border, and let’s then negotiate with the Senate so we can get our government funded in a more responsible way,“ Hinson said.

The Senate is working toward passage of a bipartisan measure that would fund the government until Nov. 17 as longer-term negotiations continue, while also providing $6 billion for Ukraine and $6 billion for U.S. disaster relief. But is having trouble advancing its own continuing resolution.

“If Zach Nunn, Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Ashley Hinson, or Randy Feenstra are even remotely serious about doing their jobs, there’s a bipartisan, Senate-passed continuing resolution they can support,” Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rita Hart said in a statement. “Unfortunately, while our military is about to go unpaid for the first time in history, they are continuing their extreme quest to put Social Security on the chopping block and make unprecedented cuts to programs Iowans desperately rely on.”

The House late Thursday also took up four of the dozen annual spending bills that fund federal agencies. Three of the four bills that would fund the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security and State Department passed, while the fourth bill to fund federal agriculture programs, rural development and Food and Drug Administration failed.

Iowa’s U.S. House members voted against the agriculture and FDA funding bill citing cuts to USDA programs that support rural broadband development, funding for foreign animal disease preparedness, wastewater treatment, ag research and education, and funding to improve tracking of foreign purchases of U.S. farmland.

“We passed legislation out of the House Appropriations Committee that cut wasteful spending at these agencies while still investing in agriculture and, again, Iowa’s priorities,” Hinson said. “And last night’s bill goes beyond redlining waste. In my mind, it undermines rural America. And I will not compromise when it comes to investing in Iowa agriculture.”

Iowa City Democrat and former state lawmaker Christina Bohannan, who is making her second run for southeast Iowa’s 1st Congressional District, criticized Miller-Meeks for promoting a campaign fundraiser next month as a shutdown looms.

“The fact that Miller-Meeks is asking taxpayers to fund her campaign while she has done nothing to stand up for the real people back here in Iowa who will be affected by the shutdown is the definition of out of touch,” Bohannan said in a statement. “... My question to Miller-Meeks is this: will you refuse your salary in solidarity with your constituents?”

Miller-Meeks said Thursday she had started the paperwork to have her pay withheld should the government shutdown. Hinson sent a letter to House Chief Administrative Officer Catherine Szpindor instructing her to “withhold my net pay until appropriations agreement has taken effect.”

https://x.com/RepAshleyHinson/status/1707797084437467590?s=20

The Constitution and federal law require lawmakers to continue to draw a paycheck even if they haven't reached a deal to fund the government. However, in past government shutdowns, members of Congress have asked the House chief administrative officer and Senate financial officials to withhold their pay, while others have donated it to charity.

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