D.C. Dispatch: Immigration, Trump trial, Fauci and farm bill delays

The U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., is pictured on Tuesday, April 9, 2024. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)

President Joe Biden’s immigration executive order, Dr. Anthony Fauci and a GOP letter to Biden over Donald Trump’s trial were all major focuses for Iowa lawmakers this week.

Efforts to renew the farm also could see delays as Democrats and Republicans debate over Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.

Here’s a roundup of how Iowa’s congressional representatives were responding to issues this week:

GOP senators promise to oppose Biden funding, nominees

Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst joined 10 other Republican senators in signing a letter promising to oppose Biden’s non-security-related funding efforts and judicial appointments.

Initially written by Utah Sen. Mike Lee, the signatories allege the Biden administration played a role in Trump’s guilty convictions in his hush money trial.

“The White House has made a mockery of the Rule of Law and fundamentally altered our politics in un-American ways,” Utah Sen. Mike Lee wrote in the letter.

“We must restore integrity in our government after Democrats’ clear weaponization and politicization of our justice system,” Ernst said in a tweet.

Iowa’s other senator, Sen. Chuck Grassley, will not sign the letter.

“ I have to say that not at this point, but what you said the letter said, I don’t find too much disagreement with,” he told Radio Iowa .

Farm bill faces roadblock over SNAP benefits

The $1.5 trillion farm bill is unlikely to advance this year as debates over SNAP benefits stall efforts to pass the bill for the second year in a row.

A farm bill is meant to be passed every five years and is generally considered “must-pass” legislation. However, the 2018 farm bill expired last year without a new bill to replace causing lawmakers to extend the expiration date to Sept. 30.

The House Agricultural Committee passed their version of the bill with little bipartisan support in May which included decreases to SNAP benefits.

That version of the bill will not pass in the Senate, Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Sen. Debbie Stabenow said in a news release. The ranking Republican on the committee, Sen. John Boozman, agreed that without improvements, extending the 2018 farm bill was the best option.

Iowa Rep. Randy Feenstra, who added a handful of amendments to the House farm bill, praised the bill for how it benefits Iowa farmers.

“The farm bill also includes my work to expand broadband in rural Iowa, support research initiatives at universities like Iowa State University, improve the Livestock Indemnity Program to deliver fair market prices for our cattle producers and invest in homegrown Iowa biofuels,” Feenstra said.

He said he will still do what he can to get a new version of the farm bill passed.

“I’ll continue working with my colleagues to get the farm bill signed into law as soon as possible,” Feenstra said.

Iowa lawmakers say Biden immigration decisions too little, too late

President Joe Biden revealed plans Tuesday to curb immigration at the southern border . The executive order would shut down asylum requests at the border if the number of illegal crossings surpasses 2,500.

Iowa lawmakers quickly criticized the move as a political ploy meant to secure votes in the runup to the November election.

“He hasn’t done a single thing to secure our border,” Feenstra said in a Tweet.

Rep. Ashley Hinson described the move as an “election-year ploy.”

“Americans see right through this last-ditch, election-year ploy from President Biden to feign interest in curbing illegal immigration,” Hinson said in a social media post.

Biden said he would prefer longer-term laws over an executive order.

A bipartisan immigration law was on the table before being rejected by Republicans following pressure from former President Donald Trump who hopes to use immigration as an issue in the upcoming election.

“Republicans in Congress chose to put partisan politics ahead of our national security, twice voting against the toughest and fairest set of reforms in decades,” Biden said in a press release.

Ernst’s comments about the move mirrored many of her Republican colleagues.

“Millions of illegal crossings later, Biden is attempting to “act” on the border – months before the election. The buck stops with Biden,” Ernst said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

Fauci address to Congress

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S.’s lead infectious disease expert during the COVID-19 pandemic before his 2022 retirement, spoke to members of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic about the origins of the disease.

The subcommittee, of which Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks is a member, started in 2020 to oversee how economic stimulus money would be spent to revitalize the economy. Following the Republicans taking the majority in the House, the subcommittee was kept but with a new goal of investigating COVID-19’s origins, pandemic-era policies and government spending.

Many Republicans used the hearing as an opportunity to throw unproven accusations at Fauci while Democrats generally apologized for their colleagues’ behavior.

Ernst, who has argued with Fauci in previous hearings, reiterated her attacks.

“Fauci might be hiding the truth, but I’ve been exposing how he funneled tax dollars to Wuhan through @EcoHealthNYC,” Ernst said in a tweet about the hearing.

The main accusation against Fauci was that he used his influence to quell theories that COVID-19 began in a lab, something he called “preposterous.” Most scientists believe that COVID-19 occurred naturally and jumped from animals to humans.

Fauci repeated his previous stance that he believed a natural origin is better supported by evidence but was still open to other possibilities.

“I have repeatedly stated that I have a completely open mind to either possibility and that if definitive evidence becomes available to validate or refute either theory, I will readily accept it,” Fauci said.

International Criminal Court sanctioned by House

The House of Representatives voted Tuesday to sanction the International Criminal Court (ICC) for issuing arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others for war crimes in the Israeli-Hamas conflict.

The sanction passed the House with some Democratic support in a 247-155 vote. All four Iowa House representatives voted in favor of the sanction. Every Republican voted in favor of the sanction except for two, representatives Warren Davidson and Thomas Massie, who voted present.

While disagreeing with the ICC’s decision, the Biden administration said it “strongly opposes” the sanction.

With a democratically controlled Senate and Biden against the move, the sanction is unlikely to advance any further.

The ICC also issued arrest warrants for Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and other Hamas officials.

The vote comes as Netanyahu accepted Congress’s invitation to speak at a joint address.

Correction: A section in the farm bill subhead incorrectly said Rep. Zach Nunn made a statement when Rep. Fandy Feenstra actually made the statement. Feenstra’s work on SNAP is intended to eliminate fraudulent SNAP payments.

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