Fourth District Focus: Meeting with Iowans with Community Housing Initiatives in Spirit Lake
Every year, I travel to every county in Iowa’s 4th Congressional District at least twice a year as part of my biannual 36 County Tour. My travels across the district meeting with Iowans allow me to take their policy suggestions to Congress, turning ideas into legislation. To date, I have made more than 330 different stops, which includes many trips to Dickinson County. Among several visits, I stopped by the Lakes Area Farmers Market in Arnolds Park, visited the Polaris-Indian Motorcycle Plant in Spirit Lake, toured the Green Plains plant in Superior, made pizzas at Godfather’s in Spirit Lake, and held a town hall with 70 students at Okoboji High School to answer their questions about government.
My latest stop in Dickinson County took me back to Spirit Lake with a meeting with Iowans with Community Housing Initiatives (CHI) – Iowa’s largest nonprofit affordable housing operation. CHI does an incredible job delivering affordable housing solutions, particularly in our rural communities. During our conversation, we talked about their ongoing work building new units in towns like Hawarden, Spencer, and Spirit Lake, and agreed that we need to cut red tape and pass thoughtful policies that encourage homebuilding in rural Iowa.
Last Congress, I helped introduce both the Neighborhood Homes Investment Act to construct new, affordable homes and revitalize existing homes to attract and keep families and businesses in rural America, and the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act to build new and affordable rental units for families and Iowans in need. The Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act would specifically support the construction of two million new affordable homes for rental purposes through the expansion of the low-income housing tax credit. As a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, I will continue to advocate for policies that lower the cost of homebuilding, make housing more affordable for Iowans, and promote home and rental construction in rural Iowa.
In addition to affordable housing policy, I am working to extend the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act beyond its expiration at the end of this year. If this pro-growth, pro-family, pro-worker law is allowed to sunset, our families, farmers, and small businesses would face higher taxes, and our economy would face headwinds for growth. By the numbers, the average U.S. taxpayer would face a 22% increase in taxes, 40 million families would also have their Child Tax Credit slashed in half, 91% of taxpayers would see their standard deduction cut in half, 26 million small businesses would face a top tax rate of 43.4%, and two million family farms would witness their death tax exemption sliced in half. That can’t happen. As a fiscal conservative and longtime supporter of low taxes, I will advocate fiercely to protect these tax cuts that benefited our families, farmers, businesses, and our economy.
Meeting with Iowans and having thoughtful, candid conversations is important to me and a major highlight of my job serving Iowa. I will continue to be accessible to and transparent with Iowans all while pushing for legislation that lowers taxes for our families, supports agriculture, grows our economy, and strengthens our national security. I look forward to my next visit to Dickinson County, and encourage Iowans to contact our office online at Feenstra.House.Gov or by phone at 202-225-4426 if we can ever be helpful with navigating federal agencies.