After three weeks of overtime, state lawmakers adjourned for the year today and Democrats said progress was made when Republicans put aside partisan, divisive issues and worked together to find compromise.
“House Democrats started the session ready to put aside the partisanship and find common ground to create jobs and grow Iowa’s economy. While I’m pleased we made some progress this year, Republicans spent too much time on partisan, divisive issues instead of the issues that matter most to Iowans,” said House Democratic Leader Kevin McCarthy.
When the session began, House Republicans offered another round of steep cuts in the state’s job creation and skilled workforce efforts. They also approved several divisive, partisan bills to turn back the clock on women’s health care and give immunity to domestic abusers and violent criminals.
“Despite opposition from Republicans, Democrats made sure the Legislature took action to continue the state’s job creation efforts, expand training at community colleges, and continue preschool for 20,000 Iowa kids,” added McCarthy. “We’re proud of our work this year standing up for the middle class and keeping focused on main stream issues.”
The 2012 Legislative Session ended on Wednesday, May 9, 2012 after three weeks of overtime.
Just a day after approving the education reform bill, House Republicans outlined their shell game to pay for the reforms by taking $20 million from class size reduction funds that Iowa schools already receive.
“Raising class sizes in the early grades is a step in the wrong direction and will counter new efforts to improve literacy before 3rd grade,” said House Democratic Leader Kevin McCarthy of Des Moines. “It’s not just robbing Peter to pay Paul, it’s taking money from a priority that will result in higher class sizes.”
On a party line vote on Thursday, the House Education Committee approved a bill to take $20 million of the $30 million schools receive for class size reduction block grants. The bill, Senate File 2210, now goes to the House floor.
House Democrats said new budget documents released today show House Republicans aren’t interested in growing Iowa’s skilled workforce or education reform efforts.
“The Republican education budget is a failure for Iowa students and the future of our economy,” said House Democratic Leader Kevin McCarthy of Des Moines. “Now more than ever, the strength of Iowa’s economy is dependent on a highly-skilled workforce that can compete with workers from around the globe. The Republican budget guarantees that fewer Iowans will get the skills they need to land a good-paying job.”
The budget documents produced by the non-partisan Legislative Services Bureau show Republicans cutting over $80 million from Governor Branstad’s proposal. In addition to zeroing out $17 million for education improvements requested by the Governor, Republicans also slashed $62 million in support for students at community colleges, state universities, and private colleges.
“After working together for months, I’m deeply disappointed that House Republicans won’t provide a single dollar for education reform efforts,” said State Representative Sharon Steckman of Mason City, Ranking Member of the House Education Committee. “While I’m committed to working together to improve education, this is a devastating blow to our efforts this year.”
“With Iowa students already carrying the 4th highest debt load in the country, the Republican budget puts one more burden on the middle class while putting college out of reach for too many Iowans,” said Rep. Cindy Winckler of Davenport, the lead Democrat on the education budget committee.
House Republicans released their budget for the 2013 year and it hits the state’s job creation efforts and education especially hard. Here’s the response from House Democratic Leader Kevin McCarthy:
The Republican budget will pull the plug on our job creation efforts next year. House Democrats are committed to strengthening our economy and growing the middle class. We won’t turn our back on economic development efforts to help Iowa Main Street businesses grow while rewarding big Wall Street corporations with over-sized tax breaks that won’t benefit Iowans.
With the future of our economy dependent on a highly-skilled workforce, we also can’t afford to short-change opportunities for Iowans to get the skills they need to land a good-paying job. We’re going to work with the Senate and Governor Branstad to craft a responsible budget.
