SNAP and shutdown news, Feenstra for gov, pro-Bird ad, and more

Nov. 3 edition of "KHOI's Capitol Week"

Graphic originally published on the Food Bank of Iowa’s Facebook page

Reminder for anyone within striking distance of Cedar Rapids: Marcia Rogers is hosting an event for me on Sunday, November 9, from 4 to 6 pm. This is a fundraiser to support my work, but no donations are required to attend. All are welcome to come hear me talk about my reporting journey, Iowa’s 2026 election landscape, and the upcoming legislative session. RSVP for location details: laurabelin@substack.com.

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On to Monday night’s edition of “KHOI’s Capitol Week.” The audio file from our November 3 show is at the top of this post. You can also listen to “KHOI’s Capitol Week” through any podcast platform or smart speaker, and find all episodes from the past three years here (KHOI’s website is currently under construction).

I’m trying to keep this week’s recap shorter than usual, because many of us will be focused on tonight’s election results in Iowa and elsewhere. Here’s what Spencer Dirks and I covered:

SNAP benefits delayed

At least 260,000 Iowans haven’t received their federal food assistance (SNAP benefits) for November. Normally those go out on the first day of each month. Food pantries around the state have seen a surge in demand. Every month, SNAP benefits total around $45 million for more than 130,000 Iowa households, supporting an estimated 100,000 kids as well as many low-income adults, senior citizens, and disabled Iowans.

Federal judges have ordered the Trump administration to release the funds but it’s not clear when that will happen. NPR reported Monday that the USDA may pay out only half the amount recipients would normally get.

Governor Kim Reynolds announced on Friday that she’s ordering the Iowa National Guard to prepare for food distribution missions, and that the state will match up to $1 million in cash donations to the state’s food banks. (You can watch her press conference here.)

Cash donations are more helpful for food banks than food donations. While $1 million can’t come close to making up for the lost SNAP funding, it is something. The governor’s official website has a list of food banks and links to make it easier for people to donate to each.

This map from the Iowa Food Bank Association shows the counties covered by partner organizations.

Reynolds has repeatedly criticized U.S. Senate Democrats for not voting for a clean government funding bill. On Thursday she accused them of “using Americans and Iowans as a negotiating tool” and claimed Democrats “think they have the upper hand by letting people suffer.”

That’s ironic, because this is the first time SNAP benefits have been delayed during a federal government shutdown. So the real situation is that President Donald Trump and the USDA have chosen to let people go hungry, hoping to force Democrats to concede.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities posted a good explainer on the federal law and the USDA contingency funds, which are available to keep paying SNAP benefits on schedule. The USDA also drew criticism for warning grocery store chains not to offer discounts to people on SNAP.

Iowa Democrats demand action to release funds

The state of Iowa did not join 25 other states that have challenged the USDA decision to withhold SNAP funds. During her Friday news conference, Governor Reynolds called the lawsuits “ridiculous.” I haven’t been able to get a comment from Attorney General Brenna Bird’s office. She sued the Biden administration dozens of times, but can’t be bothered to demand $45 million in funding the Trump administration should have already released for low-income Iowans.

Top Democrats in the Iowa legislature have called on Reynolds and Bird to join the lawsuit, and also to use earned interest from federal COVID relief funds to cover the SNAP shortfall. In a statement, House Minority Leader Brian Meyer and Senate Minority Leader Janice Weiner said the state has $107 million in earned interest from those billions of dollars provided.

Several Democrats running for federal offices have slammed the Trump administration and U.S. Representative Ashley Hinson, the front-runner in the Republican Senate primary, over the lapse in SNAP benefits.

Senate candidate Nathan Sage issued a statement on this, noting that his family relied on food stamps when he was growing up. I couldn’t read these excerpts on the air:

Let me be clear: this is a political choice. Ashley Hinson is going to claim the government shutdown is causing 250,000 Iowans to lose their SNAP benefits on November 1st – but she is lying to Iowans because she and this administration want to use struggling families and starving children as pawns in their political games.

This is exactly the type of bullshit Iowans are sick and tired of seeing from our politicians. […]

When we use $40 billion dollars to bailout Argentina, build new ballrooms at the White House, and start wars with Venezuela all while our kids go hungry, it’s clear our leaders priorities are f*cked.

Senate candidates Zach Wahls and Josh Turek both attended events in the Cedar Rapids area on Saturday. They criticized Trump administration policies related to food and health care and called on Hinson to act.

Meanwhile, the Hinson campaign continued its practice of mentioning only Wahls (not other Democratic contenders) by name.

“Ashley Hinson voted to keep the government open. Zach Wahls has joined Chuck Schumer in supporting this shutdown,” her campaign said in a statement. “As soon as the Democrats reopen the government, we can work on fixing rising Obamacare premiums and lowering health care costs for working families. That can’t happen while Democrats like Zach Wahls are playing politics with people’s lives and keeping the government shut down.”

Teachers union: Lapse in food aid a “crisis” for kids, schools

The Iowa State Education Association held a virtual news conference last Thursday to highlight how the delayed SNAP payments could be a disaster for children and schools.

ISEA president Joshua Brown explained, “When students come to school hungry, their ability to learn disappears. [...] Hunger is a thief. It steals concentration, it steals memory, it steals the very foundation of cognitive development. You cannot expect a child to focus on mathematical equations when their body is only focused on survival.”

He and other educators also said hunger is associated with more behavioral challenges at school; hungry kids are more frustrated and struggle with self-regulation.

Children who face chronic food insecurity lag behind their peers in math and reading development; he warned the shutdown “is actively creating a learning gap that will follow these children for the rest of their lives.” Progress made in math and reading is in jeopardy.

The Des Moines Public Schools and many other school districts have programs to help support families, including free breakfast and lunch, food pantries at some schools, and backpacks sent home with non-perishable food items. But that can’t meet the needs of every family facing hunger.

Sticker shock on Affordable Care Act health insurance

On Saturday the open enrollment period began for health insurance purchased through the Affordable Care Act. It runs through January 15. More than 130,000 Iowans buy policies on the ACA exchange, and most of them are going to see big premium hikes. The Des Moines Register published many details here.

This dispute is central to the government shutdown, as Democrats have called for extending subsidies for ACA health insurance premiums. At this point, I’m not sure the premiums would go down even if Republicans in Congress agreed to extend the subsidies, because insurance regulators have already approved proposed increases.

A lot of people may just drop their coverage rather than pay double, triple, or more for monthly premiums.

Iowa’s Insurance Commissioner Doug Ommen said in a statement that the temporary federal subsidies “have only masked the underlying problems” with the Affordable Care Act. He called on Congress to “address the structural flaws that have plagued the ACA from the beginning and made these premiums unaffordable.” Without getting too wonky, Ommen complained that under the ACA, subsidies “are based only on income. This ignores age and actual health risk, which distorts the market and makes premiums more expensive.” Another criticism: the ACA “sets limits on how much more older adults can be charged compared to younger adults. The ACA requires a 3:1 ratio, rather than the more actuarially sound 5:1 ratio.”

Ommen warned that healthier Iowans may drop out of the ACA market, “leaving behind a sicker, more expensive risk pool.”

Democrats running for U.S. Senate have said the health insurance subsidies should be extended as part of a government funding deal. I asked Sage about this on Julie Gammack’s Monday “Potluck” Zoom call. He said he was glad to see Chuck Schumer standing up for something.

Turek told the Des Moines Register last week that the ACA subsidies were worth fighting for. In Cedar Rapids over the weekend, Wahls urged Hinson to “go back to Washington and vote to protect the ACA and reopen the government.”

Shutdown could affect small Iowa airports

The federal government pays for so many programs that hardly anyone has heard of, and I wanted to flag some good reporting by Maya Marchel Hoff for the Lee Newspapers. “Essential Air Service” funding supporting five small Iowa airports “is set to dry up on November 18.” That could affect flights in and out of Burlington, Fort Dodge, Mason City, Sioux City, and Waterloo.

These are unprofitable routes for commercial flights, and this program is really important for smaller communities. Marchel Hoff wrote,

Since the government shut down earlier this month, EAS funding was set to lapse twice, including on Nov. 2. The U.S. Department of Transportation has extended program funding twice — once on Oct. 8 and again on Oct. 29. […]

While EAS funding is guaranteed through mid-November, rural Iowa airports are still bracing for a situation where their commercial carriers have to cancel flights if there is a funding lapse.

Grassley, Ernst oppose efforts to block Trump tariffs

The U.S. House of Representatives hasn’t been in session since September 19. According to Congressional reporter Jamie Dupree (author of the excellent Regular Order newsletter), House members worked only 20 days out of the four months from July through October. There’s no precedent for this.

However, the Senate is still meeting and voting. Last week, the Trump administration suffered three unusual defeats on tariff policy. Four Republicans (Rand Paul of Kentucky, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky) joined Democrats to pass resolutions disapproving of Trump’s tariffs on Canada, Brazil, and the “global” tariffs on many countries.

The votes came ahead of oral arguments in the U.S. Supreme Court this week on whether the president exceeded his authority by invoking a 1970s law on emergency powers to levy tariffs on scores of countries.

Iowa’s Senators Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst voted against the resolutions, even though Grassley has sounded uneasy about some of the tariffs.

House leaders have sought to avoid tariff votes, and pushed through a rule this summer that prevents any floor vote on the issue until February 2026 at the earliest.

Not clear when farmers will get new bailout

Trump and Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins have promised to help farmers affected by tariffs. We don’t know yet how much money they will receive and when that will happen. A reader sent me this article from the publication Government Executive, which reported last week,

The Agriculture Department moved $13 billion from an account designed to support farmers into another designed to provide emergency relief from President Trump’s tariffs, but the funding is now largely sitting in limbo without any immediate function. […]

USDA transferred the $13 billion from its Commodity Credit Corporation—a New Deal-era initiative that funds the purchasing of and aid toward U.S. agricultural products—to the Office of the Secretary, according to internal emails obtained by Government Executive, public spending data and individuals privy to the decision making. The money was sent to create a mandatory “Farmers Support Program,” according to documents marking the transfer, though an employee familiar with the matter said the tariff relief effort was not yet ready for actual deployment.

Iowa Republicans praise Trump deal with China

In farm country, many people are waking up to the fact that the U.S. bailed out Argentina which then turned around and captured a big part of the soybean export market. Over the past week, several of Iowa’s members of Congress have praised the Trump administration for making a deal that will apparently restart China’s purchases of American soybeans.

For instance, Ernst posted on X/Twitter, “U.S. soybeans are headed to China. I’ll say it again, President Trump is fighting to get our farmers a fair deal and bringing folks to the table!”

U.S. Representative Randy Feenstra struck a similar tone:

President Trump has delivered for Iowa farmers again!

China has agreed to buy 12 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans ASAP and 25 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans annually.

President Trump will continue to open export markets for Iowa agriculture and our producers.

My understanding is that this is only a “framework” for now. Hinson’s social media post was more cautious: “Promising news — great to see things moving in the right direction for Iowa’s soybean farmers. As we await more details, I’ll continue working with the administration to expand market access for Iowa farmers & secure new trade deals.”

Democrats including Turek have pointed out that Trump’s “chaotic” tariff policies disrupted the export markets to begin with.

Feenstra launches campaign for governor

Feenstra finally made it official last Tuesday: he’s running for governor. We spent a few minutes talking about his campaign launch, his unusual opening video, and his extensive attacks on Democratic front-runner Rob Sand.

I covered all of those angles in more detail over the weekend. My post was more snarky than I can be on KHOI!

My post fact-checked Feenstra’s attacks on Sand. The Democrat’s communications director provided this statement: “Randy Feenstra just spent half his launch video misleading Iowans about Rob Sand, failing to mention a single way he himself will improve Iowans’ lives or the state’s poor rankings. It’s clear Feenstra and the other insiders who have driven Iowa into the ground over the last ten years of one-party rule are worried about Rob’s message resonating with voters across the political spectrum.”

Poll shows Sand leading Feenstra by two points

On Thursday, Z to A Research released partial results from a survey showing Sand ahead of Feenstra in a match-up for governor by 45 percent to 43 percent.

I talked to the pollster, Nancy Zdenkewicz, who has worked for many Democratic campaigns and organizations. She confirmed that Sand’s campaign did not commission the survey, but she wouldn’t say who did commission it.

I am skeptical of any poll that claims to be able to identify “likely midterm voters” a year ahead of time. But it’s a data point to consider, and the numbers for Trump and Ernst looked realistic. (Trump was 49 percent favorable/46 percent unfavorable, Ernst was 38/50, Sand was 44/19).

In addition, Feenstra’s own internal polling must show that Sand is a threat; otherwise he wouldn’t have gone negative in his launch video.

The Z to A polling memo noted, “Sand has consolidated all Democrats and has a 48-point advantage with pure independents. By comparison, only 77% of Republicans are backing Feenstra, and nearly 1-in-10 are already choosing to split their tickets and support Sand. If these trends continue with undecided voters, Sand can become the next Governor of Iowa.”

Sand’s campaign publicized the poll, and in a new memo highlighted the campaign’s large volunteer network–much bigger than any Republican candidate at this point. “Over 7,000 people in all 99 counties in Iowa have signed up to join Team Sand, with over 2,000 people signing up to knock doors, make phone calls, or somehow volunteer for the campaign.”

Reynolds won’t endorse for governor before primary

A quick reminder of who’s seeking the Republican nomination for governor: Feenstra, former State Representative Brad Sherman, State Representative Eddie Andrews, and former state agency director Adam Steen. (I am now hearing another candidate may get into the race this week.)

As I mentioned in my weekend post, Feenstra had a rough interview with WHO Radio’s conservative drive time host Simon Conway. He tried three times to get Feenstra to commit to debating his Republican opponents. Each time, her evaded the question.

There is clearly some Republican uneasiness about Feenstra, but I still see him as the front-runner. He’s almost certainly raised the most money, and he’s lined up dozens of prominent endorsers.

I got a kick out of the fact that Steen’s ads on social media are asking people for $99. Most candidates are running Facebook or Instagram ads asking for $5 or $10.

Radio Iowa quoted Reynolds last week as saying she doesn’t plan to endorse a candidate for governor before the June 2026 primary. “We haven’t had one for a long time, so I think it’s really important that, you know, they get out there and make their case.”

The governor made those comments to reporters in Feenstra’s hometown of Hull (Sioux County). She and Feenstra have known each other since they both were county treasurers before being elected to the Iowa Senate in 2008.

Keep in mind that Reynolds also said she didn’t plan to endorse before the Iowa caucuses, then campaigned extensively for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

More labor endorsements in Democratic primaries

On Saturday, the Iowa Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO endorsed Sand for governor and labor lawyer Nate Willems for attorney general. (He’s likely to be unopposed in that Democratic primary, while Sand faces Julie Stauch.)

While labor endorsements are not as important as they used to be in Democratic primaries, it’s certainly better to have them than to see unions backing an opponent. We still haven’t heard from the state’s largest labor unions, which represent state and county employees (AFSCME) and educators (ISEA).

So far, these unions are supporting Sand for governor: the Iowa Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, United Auto Workers, CWA Local 7110, SEIU Healthcare IA and MN, Teamsters Local 90, IUOE Local 234, and the Iowa State Council of Machinists.

In the Senate primary, Wahls has the backing of Ironworkers Locals 67, 89, and 111, Teamsters Local 90, IAFF Local 610, and CWA Local 7110.

In the third Congressional district, it’s a split decision: Jennifer Konfrst has landed three union endorsements: Teamsters Local 90, Plumbers and Steamfitters Local 33, and Communication Workers for America Local 7102. The Ironworkers Local 67 endorsed Sarah Trone Garriott.

Trump gives Miller-Meeks “Complete and Total Endorsement”

Speaking of endorsements, Representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks landed a big one on Sunday. Trump announced his support for a slew of U.S. House Republicans (including the IA-01 incumbent) on his Truth Social platform. He wrote that Miller-Meeks is “an incredibly strong advocate for the Great People of Iowa’s 1st Congressional District!” He gave her his “Complete and Total Endorsement for Re-Election.”

This is a huge blow to David Pautsch, who is also seeking the nomination in IA-01. He received about 44 percent of the vote against her in the 2024 Republican primary, when Trump did not endorse. (She was Iowa’s only Republican member of Congress who did not get his endorsement in 2022.)

Pautsch’s main argument is that he is the real MAGA Republican, while Miller-Meeks is a “RINO.” I didn’t hear back from Pautsch before we went on the air, but he confirmed on Tuesday that the president’s move is making him reconsider whether to run for Congress in 2026.

Douglas Jensen running for Congress in IA-04

On Monday, the GOP field got even more crowded in Iowa’s most Republican-leaning Congressional district. Brianne Pfannenstiel interviewed Douglas Jensen for the Des Moines Register. He’s an Air Force veteran (seven years on active duty, including a tour in Afghanistan) and now works with a commercial concrete company.

“As an active citizen I have seen our government not working the way it was intended for a long time,” he said in an interview. “And I just can’t sit on the sidelines anymore when I feel like I’ve been blessed with the background, experience and personality to take on the big challenges.”

He said he’s done the “foundational work of cleaning toilets, taking out trash, carpentry (and) construction” as well as helping to lead multi-million-dollar projects.

“It’s my faith that’s kind of saying, now is the time to do something, where I can serve my country in this way,” he said.

It’s hard for me to see an unknown like Jensen competing seriously for the nomination. Also running for Congress on the GOP side: Siouxland Chamber of Commerce President Chris McGowan, Iowa Tea Party founder Ryan Rhodes, former Iowa House Majority Leader Matt Windschitl and software consultant Christian Schlaefer.

If Trump endorses in this primary, that could be decisive.

Three Democrats are seeking the nomination in IA-04: Stephanie Steiner, Ashley WolfTornabane, and Dave Dawson.

Dark money group running tv ad for Brenna Bird

If you live in one of Iowa’s larger media markets, you may have seen a TV ad recently in support of Attorney General Brenna Bird. It wasn’t funded by Bird’s campaign.

I’m going to write more about this soon, but I wanted to highlight how unusual it is for an outside group to go on the air more than a year before the election. It suggests that someone’s internal polling shows Bird isn’t very popular and needs a boost.

The “Fund for Economic Independence” is fairly new. It seems to have been created by Republican operatives and is run out of Virginia. The organization’s X/Twitter feed has only one post, which is the video of the pro-Bird commercial.

The ad is called “Keeping Iowa safe.” It says criminals target children “but Brenna Bird won’t let them hurt our kids.” It also says she “stood against pro-crime attorneys who hand out lenient sentences to violent offenders,” “partnered with tough on crime prosecutors,” and “has led the fight to prosecute cyber crimes and harmful AI imagery that victimize children.”

Since the Federal Communications Commission’s website isn’t being updated during the government shutdown, I wasn’t able to confirm the size of the ad buy. I know the spot is on the air in several Iowa markets. Nate Willems’ campaign has calculated that the group is spending at least $230,000 to run these ads.

Sam Roecker, senior adviser to the Willems campaign, told me, “Instead of using her position to fight for Iowans, Brenna Bird has spent her time in the AG’s office pursuing an extreme and divisive agenda. It’s no surprise that right-wing groups are rushing in to support her and already spending money in this race.”

First Amendment battle over school board campaign signs

Last week, the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board voted to reprimand three school board candidates in Johnston for displaying campaign signs on property leased by a corporation. Under longstanding Iowa law, corporations cannot donate to state candidates, and cannot display signs for or against candidates for elected offices.

The board approved the reprimand because the candidates initially refused to remove their signs when contacted by ethics board staff.

Over the weekend, I saw that Alan Ostergren, an attorney who has represented many Republican causes, called the board’s action “a blatant violation of the First Amendment.” He said, “This is clear content-based regulation subject to strict scrutiny.”

I sought comment from the ethics board, and its chairperson, Drake Law School Professor James Albert, said in a statement that the board “did not violate the First Amendment or the laws of Iowa. The Ethics Board did just the opposite - it followed the law of Iowa to the letter.”

During the show, I predicted that soon after today’s school board elections, we may see a lawsuit challenging the ethics board’s action and the underlying state law. I learned late Monday night that Ostergren had already filed a federal lawsuit earlier in the day. The complaint points out that Iowa law allows a “family farm corporation” (but not other corporations) to display signs supporting candidates. It also argues that Iowa unconstitutionally regulates the content of political speech by allowing corporations to display signs advocating for or against a ballot initiative but not for or against a candidate.

That’s all for now—off to watch the election returns! Thanks for reading or listening.