U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks answered questions on issues like tariffs and Medicaid during a town hall at the Roberts Memorial Center in Keosauqua Nov. 10, 2025. (Photo by Robin Opsahl/Iowa Capital Dispatch)
KEOSAUQUA — Before heading back to Washington, D.C., to vote on a measure to end the government shutdown, U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks faced a fiery crowd Monday at a town hall in Keosauqua.
Members of the audience yelled as the Republican representative spoke about her support of Medicaid changes made in the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” and President Donald Trump’s tariff policies. She also discussed her position on Democrats’ calls to extend Affordable Care Act tax credits.
The event came as the U.S. Senate moved Monday toward approving stopgap funding measures to reopen the government until Jan. 30, approaching the end of the longest shutdown in national history. Senate Democrats had refused to advance stopgap spending bills if enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits, set to expire at the end of the year, were not extended. On Sunday, seven Senate Democrats and one independent voted to advance a continuing resolution that did not include language on the ACA tax credits, though Republican leadership has promised a future vote will be held on the issue.
Regardless of the Senate’s action, the continuing resolution to end the shutdown must also get House approval before heading to President Donald Trump. Miller-Meeks told the crowd in Keosauqua she would be heading back to Washington, D.C., to vote on the measure following the town hall.
“As a matter of fact, just a few hours ago, we were on a conference call with Speaker (Mike) Johnson and he wants us to return to D.C. now,” Miller-Meeks said. “I wasn’t going to cancel this town hall. So we’ve committed to doing this, and then we’ll head back to D.C. and hopefully, as early as possible, it’ll be on Wednesday that we would have a vote on funding the government.”
Democrats’ criticize lack of public forums
Democrats have criticized Miller-Meeks for saying at a Johnson County Republicans of Iowa meeting in August she would hold public town halls “when hell freezes over.” While Miller-Meeks has held town halls remotely in recent weeks, including a telephone town hall Oct. 15 with 10,700 participants, the Keosauqua event was her first in-person public town hall this year.
Katie Smith, a spokesperson for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said in a statement Miller-Meeks’ town hall shows that she is not committed to being easily accessible to her constituents.
“Mariannette Miller-Meeks told Iowans she won’t do her job until hell freezes over,” Smith said in a statement. “That’s the kind of representation Iowans have come to expect from Miller-Meeks: the rare instances she does show up, it’s paying meaningless lip service to Iowans while making it as difficult as possible for them to see her in public and hold her accountable.”
House GOP campaign officials told members of the caucus earlier in the year to avoid hosting in-person town halls, as Republican members of Congress across the country have faced angry crowds at public meetings who are upset with cuts to public programs like SNAP and Medicaid as well as actions taken by the Trump administration. Iowa’s U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst gained national attention for saying, “well, we all are going to die,” at a May town hall when a woman shouted that people will die because of the Medicaid cuts made in the budget reconciliation law.
Health care debate contentious
Dissatisfaction with Republican policies on health care were also a major point of contention at the Monday town hall. Kadie Johansson, the general manager of KILJ Radio, moderated the event, reading questions written down by Iowa 1st Congressional District residents, which included several questions about Medicaid.
The audience cheered when Johansson read a question asking, “Why did you allow your committee to put in place the largest cuts to Medicaid in the program’s entire history?” Miller-Meeks responded by thanking the crowd for cheering for the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee’s vote to “strengthen and preserve Medicaid” through implementing work requirements and removing coverage for immigrants who lack legal residency status and ineligible people.
Congressional Budget Office estimates found the changes to Medicaid made in the budget reconciliation bill will reduce spending on the program by $625 billion over 10 years. Miller-Meeks said current spending on the program is “unsustainable,” and that the changes are a way to ensure the health coverage program’s continued existence to provide health care for “those who Medicaid was intended for: children, pregnant women, those with disabilities and those seniors or veterans who are dual-eligible.”
Another question raised reports that health care premiums will double for people covered through Health Insurance Marketplaces unless the enhanced tax credits are extended.
Miller-Meeks said there was misinformation circulating about Democrats’ calls to extend these ACA tax credits, saying the subsidies in question were put in place to assist health insurance companies during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“What expired was COVID-era enhanced premium tax cuts, where that money goes directly to profitable insurance companies,” Miller-Meeks said. “It was a corporate welfare bailout to the health insurance companies done by the Democrats in 2021. … They were then redone in 2022 through the (Inflation Reduction Act). Those are enhanced premium tax credits. It’s minimal number of people … the ACA premium tax credits were not changed. That’s in the regular appropriation process.”
She said Republicans have lowered costs for people in need through the increased tax subsidies for children and senior citizens through the budget reconciliation bill, but said the ACA subsidies were unchanged in the GOP spending plan.
At an October fundraiser, Miller-Meeks told supporters that she did not support Democrats’ shutdown demands on extending the tax credits after they lost control of both chambers of Congress in the 2024 election.
“I don’t like Democrats shutting down the government over something that they could not get done when they had the House, the Senate and the White House, and now they expect us to do their job for them,” Miller-Meeks said in October. “They expect us to extend something that they couldn’t do themselves.”
Other questions focused on Trump and his administration’s policies, with several constituents saying the president’s tariff policies have negatively impacted Iowa farmers. The Iowa Republican said she believes tariffs “can be a negotiating tool,” and said she believes many of the issues farmers are facing are due to high input costs, which she said “occurred when we had record-high inflation under the Biden administration.” She also emphasized there has not been a vote on tariffs in the House.
Additionally, there were multiple questions with calls for Miller-Meeks to support the release of the “Epstein files,” or Department of Justice information on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Miller-Meeks said she supports releasing information on Epstein, but said there needs to be a larger focus on protecting Epstein’s victims in these discussions.
The race for Iowa’s 1st Congressional District is expected to be one of the most competitive in the nation in 2026, with political forecasters like Cook Political Report rating the race as a “toss-up.” Miller-Meeks has won reelection with tight margins in recent election cycles, winning against Democrat Christina Bohannan in 2024 by less than 800 votes. She won her first election to the U.S. House in 2020 by just six votes.
Bohannan is running again to challenge Miller-Meeks in 2026. There are also two other Democrats competing to become the candidate to face her in the general election — Travis Terrell and Taylor Wettach. Republican David Pautsch, who also ran for the seat in 2024, is running a primary campaign against Miller-Meeks in the upcoming election.
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