Members of Congress averted a federal government shutdown this week, approving a continuing resolution to keep funds flowing after the current fiscal year ends. Large bipartisan majorities in both chambers (341 to 82 in the House, and 78 to 18 in the Senate) voted on September 25 to fund the federal government at current levels through December 20. The bill also contains an extra $231 million in funds for the U.S. Secret Service to step up protection of presidential candidates.

All but one member of Iowa’s Congressional delegation supported the spending measure. Representative Randy Feenstra (IA-04) has not publicly explained why he was among the 82 House Republicans who voted against the last opportunity to prevent a shutdown.

THE PATH TO A “CLEAN” SPENDING BILL

Many Republicans who opposed the spending bill were upset it did not include language requiring proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections. Former President Donald Trump demanded that House leaders add such provisions, so House Speaker Mike Johnson brought a six-month continuing resolution with the voting language to the floor on September 18. All four Iowa Republicans—Representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks (IA-01), Ashley Hinson (IA-02), Zach Nunn (IA-03), and Feenstra—supported that bill, but other GOP defections kept it from passing. It would have been dead on arrival in the Senate anyway.

As the September 30 funding deadline approached, most Republicans in Congress agreed with Johnson, who noted this week, “As history has taught and current polling affirms, shutting the government down less than 40 days from a fateful election would be an act of political malpractice.” The speaker also persuaded Trump not to bash the spending compromise before the final floor vote.

NOTHING TO SEE HERE

Feenstra hasn’t made a case for a government shutdown. Rather, he mostly avoided comment on the most consequential matter the House considered before adjourning until after the November election.

The closest he came to acknowledging the budget vote was a September 25 post on X/Twitter and Facebook, shared minutes after the House approved the spending resolution: “We need to end reckless government spending, grow our economy, and balance our federal budget to reduce our $35-trillion national debt. Iowans and Americans deserve fiscal responsibility from their government.”

That post didn’t clarify that Feenstra was a no on the funding bill. Nor did it explain why the six-month continuing resolution he had supported a week earlier (the one with the poison pill on voting) was not “reckless government spending.”

Even if you watched Feenstra’s social media feeds closely this week, you could easily have missed the passing reference to the federal budget. Dozens of posts on his Facebook and X/Twitter highlighted other issues, such as Feenstra’s bill to repeal the federal estate tax, his desire to pass a new Farm Bill, meetings with constituents in Washington, or events his district staff attended around IA-04.

Feenstra’s office issued only two press releases this week. One touted a bill he “helped introduce” in order “to keep U.S. taxpayer dollars away from the Taliban.” The other publicized his vote on September 25 for a resolution “condemning the Biden-Harris administration’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan.”

Similarly, the September 27 edition of the “Randy’s Roundup” weekly email newsletter didn’t mention that Congress approved and President Joe Biden signed a spending bill to keep the government open as a new fiscal year begins. Full list of topics covered in that newsletter, starting from the top:

• The bill Feenstra introduced to limit the use of U.S. taxpayer funds in Afghanistan;
• A House Ways and Means Committee hearing on misuse of funds from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program;
• A meeting with a constituent who is administrator of an assisted living center;
• A meeting with members of the Sioux Center Chamber of Commerce;
• A meeting with Iowa leaders of Americans for Prosperity, who praised Feenstra’s work;
• A bill Feenstra voted for two weeks ago, related to Chinese ownership of American farmland;
• A meeting with Iowa members of the American Association of Orthopedic Surgeons;
• A meeting with representatives of the American Feed Industry Association;
• A new online passport renewal system;
• Feenstra’s weekly column, which focused on “the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan”;
• A poll asking readers, “Do you support a full investigation into the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan?”

The communications strategy reminded me of how Feenstra approached last year’s epic battle to elect a new House speaker: pretend nothing unusual is happening in Washington while keeping up a steady stream of comments on other matters.

MOST OF THE IOWA DELEGATION DOWNPLAYED BUDGET VOTE

Feenstra’s Democratic challenger, Ryan Melton, posted on September 25 that his opponent was “the only Iowa House Republican who voted against the continuing resolution that will prevent a government shutdown that passed both chambers with bipartisan support. As far as I can see, he hasn’t released a public statement as to his rationale.” Melton added, “It seems like his willingness to put hundreds of thousands of employees and their families on the brink with his ‘no’ vote begs for” an explanation.

On the other hand, Feenstra was not alone in downplaying the latest budget vote. Senators Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst did not issue any press release explaining their support for the continuing resolution, or mention the news on their social media. Neither did Miller-Meeks or Nunn. They may not want to provide ammunition to conservative critics who demand unrealistic spending cuts and object to any compromise in Washington.

Only Hinson explained why she voted to fund the government, in a written statement posted on her Congressional website (but not shared on her social media feeds):

The government funding process is beyond broken. As a member of the House Appropriations Committee, I worked to craft and advance 12 conservative, single-subject appropriations bills that cut wasteful spending while delivering on Iowa’s priorities. Iowans deserve so much better than the annual shutdown politics and games – a family or a small business would never budget this way, and neither should Congress. A shutdown would only hurt the Iowans we are here to serve and end up costing taxpayers more in the long run. I will continue working to restore regular order to enact conservative spending bills that invest in Iowa while cutting irresponsible spending.

P.S.—Some may wonder why House and Senate Democrats oppose Republican efforts to require proof of citizenship when registering to vote. First, it’s already illegal for non-citizens to vote in federal elections. Second, there is no evidence any significant number of non-citizens have cast ballots in past elections. Third, millions of Americans born in this country don’t have a passport or easy access to their birth certificate, which would be required to prove their citizenship under the GOP bill.

Finally, as Thom Hartmann explained recently, many married women who have taken their husband’s name don’t have passports or other documents that exactly match their current surname. That could present a barrier for women seeking to register for the first time or update their voter registration.

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Top photo of Representative Randy Feenstra presiding over the House floor was published on his official Facebook page on July 24.