A million dollars for the University of Iowa Flood Center to install flood monitoring hydrologic stations in 28 Eastern and Southeast Iowa counties.
Another $2.5 million to complete the Forevergreen Road corridor in Johnson County.
Seven million dollars for improvements at The Eastern Iowa Airport, and the same for Fayette County to use soybean-based polymer technologies developed at Iowa State University to improve several miles of rural roads.
These funding requests for fiscal 2023 are among the nearly $100 million sought by Iowa members of Congress through what once was known as “earmarks.” That process, often associated with unjustified pork barrel spending, returned in 2021 after a 10-year ban and was renamed “community project funding.”
It’s a way for the federal government “to meet the urgent needs of communities,” House Appropriations Committee Chair Rosa DeLauro, a Connecticut Democrat, said in a letter to colleagues.
Northeast Iowa U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson, a Republican who sits on the Appropriations Committee, requested funding for neighborhood revitalization in Waterloo, emergency services facilities in Gilbertville and Independence and flood mitigation projects in Cedar Rapids and Guttenberg, among other requests.
Her goal in asking for community project funding is “to bring as many targeted resources into the district where they will have the most transformational impact.” She seeks funding only for projects that have community buy-in and support, Hinson said this week.
Her fiscal 2022 requests were for targeted infrastructure investments including Tower Terrace Road in Linn County and a new fire station in Northeast Iowa’s Protivin, as well as a Winneshiek County child care center. Those investments “are going to make a huge investment and change in the community,” she said.
The requests also reflect what she says she hears in community meetings around the district — housing, neighborhood revitalization, safety and security and workforce, Hinson said, pointing to the applications she has made for the Hawkeye and Kirkwood community colleges.
Referring to her previous career in television news, Hinson said that as someone “who has been out there, knee-deep in dirty water, covering floods,” she said she knows that investing in Linn County flood mitigation and the UI Flood Center will pay dividends to taxpayers, communities, businesses and homeowners.
In Southeast Iowa, Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks is seeking funding for health care facilities in Van Buren County and Muscatine, several road improvements, including Middle Road in Bettendorf, and an upgrade at the national cemetery in Keokuk.
She joined Hinson in asking for $1 million for the UI Flood Center because “having both members submit requests will hopefully increase the likelihood of receiving the necessary funding,” according to her office.
“I will always fight to ensure that Iowan’s hard-earned tax dollars come back to our state,” Miller-Meeks said.
Third District Democratic Rep. Cindy Axne asked for money for a child care center, replacing emergency service radio equipment, an economic development incubator and several infrastructure projects, including improvements at the Des Moines airport. She did not respond to a request for comment.
Iowa 4th District Republican U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra, as he did last year, did not seek any earmarks for fiscal 2023.
“As a strong fiscal conservative, Congressman Feenstra does not support wasteful spending that fuels inflation and adds to our crippling $30 trillion deficit,” said his spokesman, Billy Fuerst.
Feenstra voted against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s $1.5 trillion omnibus spending package, “which included thousands of wasteful earmarks for liberal priorities in blue states.”
Following Senate GOP caucus rules banning earmarks, neither Sen. Chuck Grassley nor Sen. Joni Ernst requested community project funding.
Grassley’s staff noted that most earmarks use funding that already would have gone to the respective states in the form of formula grants or through some other funding stream.
Ernst believes “Congress should be focused on cutting unnecessary spending rather than finding new pet projects to finance with taxpayer dollars,” said her spokesman, Brendan Conley.
Although Ernst did not make any funding requests, she called for the inclusion of her transparency measures to make the price tag of every federally funded project easily available to taxpayers; require public disclosure of every government-funded project that is $1 billion over budget or five years behind schedule; and require all proposed spending by the federal government to include a report by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office on its impact on prices and paychecks.
Miller-Meeks said she feels confident all of her requests have gone through “a rigorous vetting process” following the guidelines established by the Appropriations Committee.
Hinson, who will be going through the budget markup process with her fellow Appropriations Committee members in the coming weeks, agreed that project funding requests will be vetted.
“The (return on investment) for taxpayers is critical in my mind,” she said. “We’re looking to make true investments where they will pay dividends.”
Another $2.5 million to complete the Forevergreen Road corridor in Johnson County.
Seven million dollars for improvements at The Eastern Iowa Airport, and the same for Fayette County to use soybean-based polymer technologies developed at Iowa State University to improve several miles of rural roads.
These funding requests for fiscal 2023 are among the nearly $100 million sought by Iowa members of Congress through what once was known as “earmarks.” That process, often associated with unjustified pork barrel spending, returned in 2021 after a 10-year ban and was renamed “community project funding.”
It’s a way for the federal government “to meet the urgent needs of communities,” House Appropriations Committee Chair Rosa DeLauro, a Connecticut Democrat, said in a letter to colleagues.
Members may submit up to 15 requests, up from 10 last year. DeLauro has instituted transparency guidelines and requires requests include evidence of community support.
Northeast Iowa U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson, a Republican who sits on the Appropriations Committee, requested funding for neighborhood revitalization in Waterloo, emergency services facilities in Gilbertville and Independence and flood mitigation projects in Cedar Rapids and Guttenberg, among other requests.
Her goal in asking for community project funding is “to bring as many targeted resources into the district where they will have the most transformational impact.” She seeks funding only for projects that have community buy-in and support, Hinson said this week.
Her fiscal 2022 requests were for targeted infrastructure investments including Tower Terrace Road in Linn County and a new fire station in Northeast Iowa’s Protivin, as well as a Winneshiek County child care center. Those investments “are going to make a huge investment and change in the community,” she said.
The requests also reflect what she says she hears in community meetings around the district — housing, neighborhood revitalization, safety and security and workforce, Hinson said, pointing to the applications she has made for the Hawkeye and Kirkwood community colleges.
Referring to her previous career in television news, Hinson said that as someone “who has been out there, knee-deep in dirty water, covering floods,” she said she knows that investing in Linn County flood mitigation and the UI Flood Center will pay dividends to taxpayers, communities, businesses and homeowners.
In Southeast Iowa, Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks is seeking funding for health care facilities in Van Buren County and Muscatine, several road improvements, including Middle Road in Bettendorf, and an upgrade at the national cemetery in Keokuk.
She joined Hinson in asking for $1 million for the UI Flood Center because “having both members submit requests will hopefully increase the likelihood of receiving the necessary funding,” according to her office.
“I will always fight to ensure that Iowan’s hard-earned tax dollars come back to our state,” Miller-Meeks said.
Third District Democratic Rep. Cindy Axne asked for money for a child care center, replacing emergency service radio equipment, an economic development incubator and several infrastructure projects, including improvements at the Des Moines airport. She did not respond to a request for comment.
Iowa 4th District Republican U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra, as he did last year, did not seek any earmarks for fiscal 2023.
“As a strong fiscal conservative, Congressman Feenstra does not support wasteful spending that fuels inflation and adds to our crippling $30 trillion deficit,” said his spokesman, Billy Fuerst.
Feenstra voted against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s $1.5 trillion omnibus spending package, “which included thousands of wasteful earmarks for liberal priorities in blue states.”
Following Senate GOP caucus rules banning earmarks, neither Sen. Chuck Grassley nor Sen. Joni Ernst requested community project funding.
Grassley’s staff noted that most earmarks use funding that already would have gone to the respective states in the form of formula grants or through some other funding stream.
Ernst believes “Congress should be focused on cutting unnecessary spending rather than finding new pet projects to finance with taxpayer dollars,” said her spokesman, Brendan Conley.
Although Ernst did not make any funding requests, she called for the inclusion of her transparency measures to make the price tag of every federally funded project easily available to taxpayers; require public disclosure of every government-funded project that is $1 billion over budget or five years behind schedule; and require all proposed spending by the federal government to include a report by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office on its impact on prices and paychecks.
Miller-Meeks said she feels confident all of her requests have gone through “a rigorous vetting process” following the guidelines established by the Appropriations Committee.
Hinson, who will be going through the budget markup process with her fellow Appropriations Committee members in the coming weeks, agreed that project funding requests will be vetted.
“The (return on investment) for taxpayers is critical in my mind,” she said. “We’re looking to make true investments where they will pay dividends.”
Iowa House members seek nearly $100M for projects
CEDAR RAPIDS — A million dollars for the University of Iowa Flood Center to install flood monitoring hydrologic stations in 28 Eastern and Southeast Iowa counties.
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