Republican legislator says budget deal won’t be easy

There’s no budget agreement between republicans and democrats at the statehouse, and prospects for a deal appear dim. Republican House Speaker Brent Siegrist of Council Bluffs says it’ll be difficult to strike a deal with democrat Governor Tom Vilsack as he says they’re “quite a distance away from each other.”House Democrat Leader Dick Myers of Iowa City is equally pessimistic. Myers says he’s not sure they’re working together.This past week, republican legislators released a state budget outline for the coming year that’s three-quarters-of-a-percent below what Vilsack has suggested. Myers and Siegrist made their comments on Iowa Public Television.