The Republican leader in the Iowa Senate this morning accused Democrats of being the “party of nothing.”

Senate G-O-P Leader Paul McKinley of Chariton delivered a three-minute speech on the senate floor, complaining the senate has debated just five pieces of legislation in the five weeks the 2010 legislature has been in session.

“Now we can disagree about what the message was in last November’s election, but I don’t think anybody can doubt that Iowans voted for a change,” McKinley said. “They expect action.”

McKinley sugested a “go-slow” approach to legislation was inconveniencing new Republican senators who left behind businesses and even pregnant wives to serve in Des Moines.

“Yet five weeks into this session we have done nothing,” McKinley said. “Just as it has not serve Iowans in the past to have Republicans accused of being ‘the party of no,’ it will not serve Iowans in the futrue for Democrats to be ‘the party of nothing.'”

Senate Democratic Leader Mike Gronstal of Council Bluffs had this response to the complaints of Republicans: “I’ll pass every good idea they come up with,” Gronstal told reporters. “So far, I haven’t seen a lot.”

Senate President Jack Kibbie, a Democrat from Emmetsburg, says there are “important bills” scheduled for senate debate next week.

“People need to know the committee process needs time to work,” Kibbie says. “So I don’t see this session as any different than any of the rest.”

Democrats control the debate agenda in the senate because there are 26 Democrats and 24 Republicans in the senate. Republicans control the agenda in the Iowa House, where there are 60 Republicans and 40 Democrats. The House has passed a dozen bills in the past five weeks.