(Radio Iowa) – Congresswoman Ashley Hinson of Marion says she advised her fellow Republicans to support the Senate-passed budget and tax plan — and resolve spending differences later. Some House Republicans had said they wouldn’t vote for it because it didn’t do enough to reduce the deficit — but it narrowly cleared the House late this (Thursday) morning. “I look at this vote as being pretty simple,” Hinson said. “It’s about moving forward on the tax cut conversation and, again, some of these investments that we need to be making.” Iowa Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Congressmen Zach Nunn and Randy Feenstra also voted yes. The plan includes a more than half a trillion dollar increase in spending on G-O-P priorities like border enforcement and the military. Senate Republicans approved their plan last weekend and President Trump has been urging House Republicans to pass the Senate plan is week.

“Maybe the Senate bill isn’t written how we wrote ours in the House. We wrote a very conservative bill in the House because I think that’s what Americans want,” Hinson said, “but what I want to see happen is for us to actually move forward with the process, so that’s what I’ve been communicating to my colleagues. I want to keep those Trump tax cuts in place.” The tax cuts Trump signed into law in 2017 are set to expire December 31st — unless congress votes to extend them. The Senate resolution on taxes and spending requires the House Ag Committee to pare 230 BILLION dollars from the U-S-D-A. Hinson says that can be accomplished with the elimination of duplicative programs and waste, fraud and abuse as well as eligibility adjustments for federal food assistance.

“It shouldn’t be going to the 29 year old guy who’s sitting on the couch playing video games. It should be going to the single mom who needs to feed her family and I think we can all agree that able bodied adults should be working, for example, if they’re receiving these benefits,” Hinson says. “Work requirements are not cuts.” An analysis by the Legislative Services Agency found about 12 percent of Iowans receiving SNAP payments would lose the benefit if a work requirement is added for adults under the age of 65.

“I’m against cutting the benefits that people need and I want to make clear, too, the president said that. He’s not going to sign a bill if we send it to him with cuts to Medicaid or SNAP benefits,” Hinson said. “…When people are abusing these programs, defrauding it — that’s what really ticks people off and that’s what also makes it unsustainable and really jeopardizes the benefits for those who need them.” According to the latest U-S-D-A report, about 130-thousand Iowa households were receiving SNAP benefits in December of last year.