Statewide Iowa — Senator Joni Ernst says a bipartisan proposal to help Afghan civilians who worked with the U-S military is included in a security-related bill that easily cleared the House AND Senate Thursday.
There’s money for processing special immigrant visas as well as travel and housing assistance in the bill.
Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Ottumwa worked on the proposal in the House. Miller-Meeks says transferring authority to the Afghan government to protect Afghans who helped the U-S military over the past two decades would be a moral failure. The bill’s main purpose, however, is to ensure the budget for the Capitol Police doesn’t run out of money after the unexpected expenses of responding to the January 6th attack on the Capitol.
Ernst says the 100 million dollars in the legislation prevents that and not only covers overtime, but mental health support for Capitol Police officers as well. Another 300 million in the bill is for new security measures in the Capitol complex.
There’s also money in the bill to reimburse National Guard units, like Iowa’s, that were deployed to Washington to provide security.
