U.S. Reps. Ashley Hinson, Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Randy Feenstra and Zach Nunn. from left, stood as President Donald Trump thanked them for their support in the U.S. House while passing the “big beautiful bill” during his remarks at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines July 3, 2025. (Photo by Robin Opsahl/Iowa Capital Dispatch)
Iowa’s all-Republican U.S. House delegation sent a letter to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer Monday calling for Senate Democrats to vote in support of a funding bill to end the federal government shutdown.
On day 20 of the government shutdown, Senate Democrats remained at odds with Republicans and the Trump administration on passing a short-term measure unless demands are met to extend the enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits currently set to expire at the end of the year. If the shutdown does not end Tuesday — at 21 days — it will become the second longest federal shutdown in U.S. history. The longest shutdown lasted 35 days during President Donald Trump’s first term in office.
The House passed a short-term funding bill in September, which has repeatedly failed to advance in the Senate. In the letter to Schumer, Iowa Reps. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Ashley Hinson, Zach Nunn and Randy Feenstra called for Senate Democrats to support the continuing resolution passed by the House to reopen the government.
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The letter said the shutdown is “inflicting real harm on the people of Iowa: women, children, farmers, veterans, seniors, and service members.” According to the legislators, more than 18,000 federal employees are furloughed or working without pay, 160,000 veterans are not able to receive assistance from regional U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs offices, and 62,000 women and children supported through the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program face service disruptions in the state because of the shutdown.
The continued shutdown could cause further problems for the 276,000 Iowans on the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, known as SNAP, as well as 680,000 Medicare beneficiaries who use telehealth services. The Iowa Department of Health and Human Services issued a release Friday saying there was a “possibility” SNAP benefits would not be issued onto electronic benefits cards in November, as instructed by the federal Food and Nutrition Service.
The letter urged Schumer and Democrats to “set aside partisanship, put the American people first, and vote to immediately reopen the government.”
Miller-Meeks, who led the letter, said Americans deserve a functioning government, “not a Schumer shutdown.”
“For 20 days, Iowans have paid the price because Senate Democrats refuse to support a clean, bipartisan plan to fund the government,” Miller-Meeks said in a statement. “We passed a bill that keeps essential services running, pays our troops, protects families, and allows us to finish the appropriations process responsibly. It’s time for the Senate to act and put people over politics.”
Republicans and Democrats have continually sparred over which party is to blame for the shutdown. Earlier in October, Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rita Hart issued a statement criticizing Iowa’s House delegation for attending campaign fundraisers and GOP leadership events instead of working to find a solution to ending the shutdown.
“Iowa Republicans have the ability right now to stop health care premiums from more than doubling for tens of thousands of Iowa families,” Hart said in a statement. “Stubbornly, they refuse to show up to work to end this Trump Shutdown. Instead, they’ve been letting deployed Iowa National Guard troops go without pay while they attend Republican fundraisers and relax on private islands. Iowans deserve more than out-of-touch politicians who don’t do anything about rising health care costs. Voters will remember this next November.”
Feenstra, who has an “exploratory” committee to run for Iowa governor in 2026, characterized Democrats’ demands for ending the shutdown as “giving free healthcare to illegal immigrants and adding $1.5 trillion to our $37-trillion debt” in a statement Monday.
“Their recklessness put pay for our troops and WIC payments at risk, and continues to hurt our farmers, seniors, veterans, and small businesses,” Feenstra said. “I’m glad to join forces with my Iowa colleagues demanding that Senator Schumer and the Democrats end their government shutdown. Again, the Democrats are hurting Iowa families all to give free healthcare to illegal immigrants and put our country deeper into debt.”
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