Published by admin on Wed, 10/29/2025 - 11:57am
On October 16th, I hosted a telephone town hall with more than 7,500 Iowans. I provided an
update on what’s happening in Congress and answered questions about important issues ranging
from tax cuts and trade to agriculture and manufacturing. Listening to Iowans and advancing our
shared values in Congress remains a top priority for me, and these conversations are a great way
to exchange ideas and hear directly from those I serve.
On September 19th, alongside my Republican colleagues in the U.S. House of Representatives, I
voted to keep the government open and prevent a shutdown that hurts our farmers, seniors,
veterans, and small businesses. The Republican approach of keeping the government open
ensures that we can continue the appropriations process and cut wasteful government spending
from the federal budget. Unfortunately, Democrats shut down the government because they want
to add another $1.5 trillion to our $37-trillion debt and give free healthcare to illegal immigrants.
They even want to defund $50 billion that Republicans passed and President Trump signed into
law for rural hospitals and rural healthcare. This stunt prevents our troops and border patrol
agents from being paid and Iowans from accessing high-quality, affordable healthcare.
Thankfully, President Trump stepped in and directed Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to use all
available funds to pay our troops during this Democrat shutdown. President Trump also took
action to support our farmers during harvest by reopening FSA offices, processing farm loans,
and delivering ARC/PLC payments for our producers.
I continued by highlighting a few of our wins in the 119th Congress, including the Working
Families Tax Cuts. This legislation prevented the largest tax increase on Iowa families, farmers,
workers, and small businesses in history while cutting our deficit by $1.4 trillion and reducing
mandatory spending by $1.7 trillion. Had the first Trump tax cuts been allowed to expire at the
end of this year, the average Iowa taxpayer would have seen a 25% tax hike while a family of
four would have been forced to fork over an extra $1,400 — the equivalent of about eight weeks
of groceries — to the federal government. Almost 270,000 small businesses in Iowa would have
also seen a top tax rate of 43.4% and family farms would have had to pay a much higher death
tax. Fortunately, with the passage of the Working Families Tax Cuts, we included my bill to
increase the death tax exemption to $15 million, which protected two million family farms
nationwide, and we made permanent the 20% deduction on qualified business income for small
businesses and manufacturers so that they could make greater investments in their employees
Moreover, we invested in domestic manufacturing by incentivizing businesses to build plants and
facilities in the United States. This will grow our economy tremendously and encourage more
businesses to build and expand in Iowa and across the nation. Additionally, we not only stopped
the largest tax increase in history but also delivered enormous tax relief for workers and seniors.
We eliminated taxes on tips and overtime, ensuring that those who put in the extra effort to
provide for their families benefit from that effort tax-free. For our seniors, we included a new
$6,000 deduction on their federal taxes, ending tax on Social Security benefits. After a lifetime
of hard work and sacrifice, the government should not take as much money as possible from our
In addition to tax cuts, I was very involved in securing wins for agriculture in the Working
Families Tax Cuts. That includes increased reference prices for corn and soybeans, stronger crop
insurance protections, investments in foreign animal disease prevention and response, and more
dollars for trade expansion. While we passed much of the Farm Bill in the Working Families Tax
Cuts, we have several provisions to reauthorize. These include over 15 different bills I've led to
expand our trade access through development of cold-chain infrastructure, help our producers
purchase precision ag technologies, and keep China and our foreign adversaries away from our
farmland. On top of that, this Farm Bill will include investments in agricultural research, energy,
broadband modernization, and rural development. I am working to make sure the Farm Bill gets
passed and signed by President Trump as soon as possible.
Finally, I recapped the constituent services that my staff and I have been working to provide to
Iowans. To date, we have returned more than $14.5 million to Iowans. We have also reopened
post offices in Rock Valley, Storm Lake, and Charter Oak, secured $1.8 million for Spencer
Community School District and $1.8 million for Rock Valley Schools, and obtained medals for
veterans. We further helped a mom of a disabled adult child with a Medicare enrollment
assistance issue, helped a widow in Webster City obtain VA benefits that her husband earned
while serving our country, and recovered $7.5 million for taxpayers from the IRS. Those are just
a few examples of the work that we strive to do for Iowans on a daily basis.
So, whether it’s getting your tax return, getting your Social Security benefits, or getting answers
from the VA, we are here to help. I encourage you to visit Feenstra.House.Gov to learn more
about my legislative record and request help with federal agencies. I will always work to support
our families, farmers, seniors, and small businesses.
