In a press release issued by her office on Wednesday, January 19, 2022 Rep. Ashley Hinson (R) touted support of “game-changing” funding of $829 million announced by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that is aimed toward modernizing locks and dams on the Mississippi River. The statement can be found on Hinson’s website and is entitled ‘Hinson, Grassley, Bustos, Blunt, Durbin Announce $829 Million in Funding to Modernize Lock and Dams on the Upper Mississippi & Illinois Rivers.’
Hinson stated in the release “The lock and dam system along the Upper Mississippi River is critical to Iowa’s agriculture economy and our country’s entire supply chain — this landmark investment will be game-changing for Iowans and communities along the Mississippi River like Dubuque. Over 60 percent of our nation’s grain exports travel through this lock and dam system, and it is a massive economic engine for the entire state. That’s why I helped lead a bipartisan group of my colleagues in urging the Administration to prioritize funding for these essential upgrades. I’ll always fight to ensure Iowans’ taxpayer dollars are reinvested at home in Iowa.”
The issue at hand is that Hinson did not support nor did she vote for the bill. On a November 11, 2021 press call, before the $1.2 trillion measure passed into law, Hinson made her opposition to the infrastructure bill that passed very clear. “When you look at how this process played out with the infrastructure package, it was that these two bills (infrastructure and the Build Back Better reconciliation bill) were linked together from the get-go. And the package deal in whole was a raw deal for Iowans,” Hinson argued. “So targeted infrastructure spending is where we need to be. And unfortunately, having those two bills tied together was a poison pill and a raw deal for Iowans.”
Sophie Seid, a spokeswoman for the congresswoman, said in a January 19 statement to HuffPost, “Congresswoman Hinson opposed the infrastructure package because it was tied to trillions of other spending in the House. Since the bill was signed into law, this money was going to be spent regardless. If there’s federal money on the table she is, of course, going to do everything she can to make sure it is reinvested in Iowa.”
Only 13 House Republicans voted for the bill, which includes funding for roads, bridges, highways, railways and ports, one of whom was Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) “Iowa’s agriculture, manufacturing and shipping industries rely on a functioning and efficient lock and dam system along the Mississippi River to move goods. It’s an issue I often hear about during my 99 county meetings and regularly raise with the Army Corps of Engineers, so I’m pleased to report that they’ll be investing more than $829 million for updates to these locks and dams. When I voted for the bipartisan infrastructure bill, I was voting for exactly this type of federal support for critical infrastructure that Iowans depend on” stated Senator Grassely from the joint statement.
