Governor Tom Vilsack vetoed 18 bills today. The most controversial bill Vilsack vetoed would have established limits on the amount of “pain and suffering” damages Iowans could receive in a medical malpractice case. Doctors say the rising cost of their liability insurance is due to huge medical malpractice awards. Lawyers said victims of medical mistakes often deserve more than the 250-thousand dollar limit in the bill. Vilsack rejected a bill that would have let parents who home school their children teach their kids drivers ed. And the governor vetoed the bill which would have let prosecutors file two rather than just one murder charge when a pregnant woman is killed. Vilsack issued a short statement which said with a republican-led legislature facing off against a democrat governor — the state’s politically divided government — in his opinion — does not function well when it is dominated by the extremes of either party — implying the bills he vetoed were backed by extremists in the Republican party. Those comments don’t sit well with House Speaker Christopher Rants, a republican from Sioux City. Rants says most of the bills passed with the support of both republicans and democrats, so Vilsack’s charge of extremism “just doesn’t wash” according to Rants.