Feenstra

On the evening of Wednesday January 15th, I hosted my first of several telephone town halls for 2025. Nearly 6,000 Iowans joined us to ask questions about topics important to them and to learn more about my work in Congress for our families, farmers, businesses, and rural communities. Being transparent and accessible to my constituents is very important to me, and I will continue to advocate for commonsense policies that support our families and advance our shared Iowa values.

A main topic of concern for Iowans, and for me as well, is border security. Fortunately, with President Trump in the White House, we will lock down our border, keep building the wall, and deport illegal immigrants who commit crimes against American citizens. Under the Biden administration’s open-border policies, terrorists, drug traffickers, and millions of illegal immigrants have poured over our southern border with no vetting process whatsoever. It is a crisis manufactured by President Biden that President Trump and Republicans will quickly clean up. I have also introduced legislation like Sarah’s Law to ensure that any illegal immigrant who harms or kills an American citizen is swiftly detain and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

I also answered questions about supporting our veterans who have selflessly answered the call to serve our nation and defend our freedoms. Over the last several years, I have voted to help homeless veterans get off the streets, help veterans who are victims of financial crimes and other fraudulent schemes recover their stolen benefits, and expedite the approval process of veterans’ benefits claims. I further supported the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring Our Promises to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act to ensure that veterans who were exposed to toxic hazards – like burn pits, radiation, and Agent Orange – and later developed illnesses like cancer receive the high-quality care and treatment that they need, and the Sgt. Ketchum Rural Veterans Mental Health Act – which is now law – to expand veteran healthcare in rural communities by creating three new centers of the Rural Access Network for Growth Enhancement (RANGE) program in rural areas that need more resources to support veteran mental health services. In Congress, I will always work to ensure that our veterans receive the benefits and high-quality healthcare that they have earned and deserve.

As a member of the Ways and Means Committee – which handles tax policy – I had the opportunity to answer questions about the looming expiration of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, better known as the Trump Tax Cuts. If Congress fails to reauthorize these tax cuts, the average taxpayer will face a 26% tax increase, our small businesses will see a top tax rate of 43.4%, and the standard deduction and child tax credit will both be slashed in half. It’s why we must extend the Trump Tax Cuts, maintain the 20% tax cut for our small businesses, and keep the doubled standard deduction and more generous child tax credit for our families. I also noted my strong support for permanently repealing the death tax that unfairly targets our family farms and small businesses, and helping small businesses offer paid family and medical leave to their employees at a more affordable cost. I look forward to working with President Trump and my colleagues on the House Ways and Means Committee to deliver tax relief for hardworking Americans and lower costs for our families.

Finally, we covered the urgent need to get the Farm Bill passed and signed into law as quickly as possible. Last May, I voted for – and the House Agriculture Committee passed – the Farm Bill, which had ten bills that I introduced to support our farmers, producers, and agricultural community. They include provisions like lowering the cost of crop insurance for young and beginning farmers, building refrigeration infrastructure at home and abroad to support our agricultural exports worldwide, helping our livestock producers after disasters, rooting out waste and fraud from the SNAP program, keeping China and our foreign enemies away from our farmland, and equipping our farmers with precision agriculture technologies at lower costs. I have also been very vocal about preventing and mitigating the spread of foreign animal diseases, supporting agricultural education, and helping our producers ship their high-quality goods across the globe. Under President Trump, I am confident that we can pass the Farm Bill and deliver relief to Rural America.

Connecting with Iowans back home on my 36 County Tour or over the phone during our telephone town halls is a top priority for me. If we are going to change the way that Washington works, we need to bring Iowa common sense and ideas directly from our communities to our nation’s capital. As Iowa’s voice in Congress, I will continue to do everything in my power to represent our interests, support our families, and make our country run more like Iowa.

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Randy Feenstra, a Republican from Hull, represents Iowa’s Fourth District in the U.S. House.