Iowa Republicans Have Shut Down The Government 

Representatives Feenstra, Miller-Meeks, Nunn, and Hinson would rather close the government than protect their constituents’ healthcare

Washington D.C. – The federal government has shut down. No spending plan is in sight, and rather than getting to work, Iowa Representatives Randy Feenstra, Ashley Hinson, Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Zach Nunn are hiding out at home. 

Democrats put a plan on the table that would prevent the biggest healthcare premium price hikes in 15 years by extending the Affordable Care Act subsidies. Republicans have clearly shown they do not intend to compromise. Instead they’re lying about undocumented immigrants magically being able to access health care benefits through the ACA, which is a joke. The fact is the Republican’s only plan leaves tens of thousands of Iowans with skyrocketing health insurance premiums. 

People like Lori Hunt, a breast cancer survivor from Des Moines, would face devastating consequences. She relies on premium tax credits to afford health insurance that covers costly screenings, MRIs and prescriptions. With the credits, she pays just $8 a month. Without them, her premiums would spike to between $650 and $750 — more than her mortgage. 

“I could not afford it. I could not. I would have to cancel it,” Hunt said, which would mean putting off care and the kind of screenings that helped her catch cancer early.

“Republicans own this shutdown,” said Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rita Hart. “Feenstra, Hinson, Miller-Meeks, and Nunn all fled D.C. after refusing to negotiate with their colleagues and voting for a bad spending bill that includes the largest price hike of health insurance premiums in 15 years. Republicans are the party in power. It is their job to negotiate with the minority party in order to pass bipartisan legislation and keep the government open. Why aren’t Iowa’s representatives in D.C. working to fix this? And why aren’t they standing up for Iowans?” 

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