Friday was the last “scheduled” day for the 2015 Iowa legislative session. That doesn’t mean the legislature has to end then, it’s just that is the final day legislators will be paid a daily allowance to cover the expense of living part of the week in Des Moines. The major, unresolved issue is the size of the state budget. Senate Democratic Leader Mike Gronstal of Council Bluffs accuses Republicans of “drawing a line in the concrete” on state spending.
Gronstal and his fellow Senate Democrats have embraced the overall state spending level Republican Governor Terry Branstad proposed, but House Republicans are lobbying for less. House Speaker Kraig Paulsen of Hiawatha is the legislature’s top-ranking Republican.
Over the past week both the House and Senate have been debating budget bills that outline general spending plans for various state agencies and departments.
Debate in the senate this week on a variety of budget bills has been short, with Senate Republicans merely voting no rather than voice many objections to the budget plans developed by Democrats.
