U.S. House approves debt ceiling deal. How Iowa’s Republican representatives voted

All four of Iowa's Republican representatives voted late Wednesday in favor of a deal to raise the nation’s borrowing limit to avoid a historic and devastating default on the nation’s debt just days before a Monday deadline.

The deal now moves to the U.S. Senate.

The House approved the bill on a 314-117 vote.

"The Fiscal Responsibility Act cuts spending and includes significant reforms to our spending process, avoids a default that would have catastrophic consequences on everyday Iowans, and is a sensible solution in a divided government,“ Iowa U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson, of Marion, said in statement. ”The next step is ensuring we have conservative leadership in the White House and Senate that will follow the Iowa model of safeguarding taxpayer dollars and budgeting responsibly."

Iowa U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra, of Hull, decried a “generation of reckless spending” in Washington and by the Biden administration, and called passed of the bill “an important first step in restoring fiscal sanity in Congress.”

“Today, we avoided financial ruin for Iowa farmers, families and main street businesses with the passage of this measure,” Feenstra said in a statement. “While imperfect, this bill includes many important long-term spending controls and enables us to pass real, comprehensive spending reform."

Iowa U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, of Ottumwa, said in a statement the bill’s “common-sense spending reforms and policies are the first steps in putting our country on a path to fiscal responsibility.”

“The Fiscal Responsibility Act is the largest deficit reduction bill in history, cutting over $2 trillion in wasteful spending while fully funding critical programs for veterans, senior and America’s national security,” Miller-Meeks said. “Iowa’s and America’s energy producers and infrastructure projects will benefit from a streamlined permitting process.”

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The bill restricts spending for the next two years, suspends the debt ceiling into January 2025 and imposes new work requirements for older Americans receiving food assistance and greenlights an Appalachian natural gas line many Democrats oppose.

It bolsters funds for defense and veterans, and guts new money for Internal Revenue Service agents.

Raising the nation’s debt limit, now $31 trillion, ensures Treasury can borrow to pay already incurred U.S. debts.

On Thursday, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, joined Dana Perino and Bill Hemmer on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom” and said he supports the debt limit deal.

“I’m going vote for it,” Grassley said.

“We can’t shut down the government,” Grassley continued. “There’s a lot in this bill that’s very good. There’s some that’s not so good, but it is a compromise” between the Republican-majority U.S. House, Democratic-controlled Senate and the White House.

Grassley criticizes FBI handling of Biden document

Grassley also criticized FBI Director Christopher Wray for not handing over a document that allegedly describes an unspecified “criminal scheme” involving then-Vice President Biden “and a foreign national relating to the exchange of money for policy decisions.”

Grassley said he read the document, but refused to “characterize” what it said.

He and House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., made the request in response to unspecified whistleblower reports they described as highly credible. In addition to a joint letter, Comer issued a subpoena to the FBI through the House Oversight Committee.

Wray offered to allow the senators to view the documents in person at FBI headquarters. However, Grassley said anything short of producing the documents to the House Oversight Committee is not in compliance with the subpoena.

“We aren’t interested in whether or not the accusations against (then-) Vice President Biden are accurate or not,” Grassley said on Fox News. “We’re responsible for making sure the FBI does it’s job, and that’s what we want to know. … There’s no reason for a nonclassified document to be held in secret.”

The White House has dismissed the Republican allegations.

“For going on five years now, Republicans in Congress have been lobbing unfounded, unproven, politically-motivated attacks against the President and his family without offering evidence for their claims or evidence of decisions influenced by anything other than U.S. interests,” a White House spokesman said earlier this month.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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