Republican legislators are miffed Gross is criticizing the budget plans they crafted. Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Jeff Lamberti, a republican from Ankeny, says he and his fellow republicans reduced state spending more than any other state.Lamberti says Gross is exaggerating a bit, as most of that borrowed money won’t have to be repaid in one year. Dennis Prouty, head of the non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau, says a person can manipulate numbers to reach all sorts of conclusions.Prouty says you can prove any point by choosing certain numbers. A new, national report found Governor Vilsack and the Legislature cut the state budget by five-point-seven percent in the past year — the deepest cuts made in any state.
