(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Congresswoman Ashley Hinson is urging her fellow Republicans in the U-S House to quickly elect Steve Scalise as speaker. “Iowans are just fed up with the chaos and dysfunction and so am I and so we need to get this done as soon as possible,” Hinson says, “and that’s what I’m communicating to my colleagues who may be holding out.”

Scalise has enough support to be NOMINATED as speaker, but there currently are enough Republicans who oppose Scalise that a vote on the House floor would fail. Previous Speaker Kevin McCarthy was ousted last week. Hinson delivered a nominating speech for Scalice in the private House G-O-P meeting yesterday (Wednesday) about the speaker’s race. “He’s been a very good friend to me and he listens to me,” Hinson says, “and I think that’s really important in making sure Iowa’s priorities can get done here in Washington, D.C.”

House Republicans are meeting in private again today (Thursday) to discuss the situation. “We need to unite behind our party’s nominee for speaker because we do have a lot going on in the world,” Hinson says. Last February, Hinson visited families in the area in Israel where Hamas attacked this past weekend. “The scenes out of Israel in the past few days have been absolutely horrific and frankly stomach churning,” Hinson says. “Hamas terrorists, backed by Iran, have brutally slaughtered innocent civilians. We just got word that 25 Americans have been confirmed murdered and unfortunately more are being held hostage right now.” Hinson says her staff has been working with Iowans who are stuck in Israel.

Hinson says the U-S State Department should authorize our military to evacuate U-S citizens and, if necessary, charter flights to bring Americans home.  “Because, as we know, many of the airports have been shut down or have limited flights in and out,” Hinson says. The Biden Administration is reportedly planning to ask congress to approve a package that includes money for Ukraine, Taiwan and U-S border security as well as additional support for Israel. Hinson opposes that approach. “There is wide, bipartisan support in congress for Israel and so I’m hopeful we can come together, again put politics and disagreements on other issues aside and then show our friends we’re going to stay true to our word and get them what they need,” Hinson says. “They are our closest ally in the Middle East. We should honor our commitments to them to keep Israel safe, America safe and the world safe.”

Hinson is joining other Republicans in calling for harsh sanctions on Iran and for refreezing Iranian assets that were part of deal that led to the release of five Americans being held in Iran in exchange for several Iranians jailed in the U-S.