Rep. Ashely Hinson defends opposition to ‘reckless’ Democratic spending

CEDAR RAPIDS — U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson is defending a series of votes against what she calls “reckless and out-of-touch” spending bills that Democrats say would address concerns of the 1st District Republican’s northeast Iowa constituents.

“Iowans sent me to Washington to stop that chaos and dysfunction in Congress, not enable it further,” Hinson said Friday about her votes against a $1.2 trillion infrastructure package, the Build Back Better plan and short-term funding to avert a federal government shutdown.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, however, said Hinson and 2nd District Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks “tried to deny a huge win for Iowans by voting ‘no’ on the wildly popular Build Back Better Act.”

The bill, according to the DCCC, would lower prescription drug costs, expand affordable health care, deliver universal pre-K, provide millions of middle-class families and workers a significant tax cut, and makes game-changing investments to bring down costs.

The votes by Hinson and Miller-Meeks “proved yet again that their loyalty towards their extremist party bosses trumps their commitment to the voters who rely on them to deliver,” said DCCC spokeswoman Elena Kuhn.

State Sen. Liz Mathis, a Hiawatha Democrat running against Hinson in 2022, went further in her criticism of the incumbent’s vote against a plan to avoid a government shutdown.

“Ashley Hinson just voted to shut down the government while we’re trying to boost the economy, strengthen supply chains, and fight a new COVID variant,” Mathis posted on social media. “Everyday she gets closer to people like Marjorie Taylor Greene and away from the Iowans she’s supposed to serve.”

U.S. Rep. Taylor Greene a far-right Republican from Georgia.

Hinson said her votes represent what she’s hearing from constituents.

“Folks have been clear with me that they don't want the (Build Back Better) plan to go through when I start talking about the wasteful spending in that bill,” she said Friday after recapping town hall meetings around her 20-county district. “This is not what Iowans want — millions and millions of dollars for research on butterflies and desert fish and studying climate change on lactating individuals.

“That's not what Iowans want to spend money on right now,” she said. They want Congress to address the price of gas, fix the supply chain and get people back to work.

“I'm focused on targeted policy solutions and targeted spending opportunities to help support the people of the 1st District,” she said.

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