The Iowa Legislature convenes this morning for the 2005 session with a nearly even partisan split in the House and a down-the-middle split in Senate membership. Twenty-five democrat and 24 republican senators will be at the state capitol today (Monday). One republican senator, Chuck Larson, is on active duty in Iraq. That means there’s a 25/25 split — and there’ll be a republican and a democrat leading each senate committee. A republican and a democrat will switch off as Senate President, too. Jack Kibbe, a democrat from Emmetsburg, will be part-time Senate President. “My office will be open to senators from both sides of the aisle and hopefully we can work together on the issues,” Kibbie says. “This is a history-making session.” Senator Mike Gronstal, a democrat from Council Bluffs, will be co-leader of the senate. He expects big things, as nothing can happen in the senate without democrats and republicans agreeing to do it. “I can’t think of one legislator on either side of the aisle (who) ran for the office the first time they ran because their goal was to beat up on the other party,” Gronstal says. “So, this session I think is an incredible session of opportunity.” “Since the Senate is easily divided — it’s not controlled by the democrats, it’s not controlled by the republicans — maybe that’s the tiem we can take on some of those nettlesome issues,” Gronstal says. In the House, there are 51 republicans and 49 democrats. House Speaker Christopher Rants, a republican from Sioux City, says he’s been focusing on big picture items. “I know that we have a lot of these issues like the Bottle Bill and deer hunting and dove hunting and things like that,” Rants says. “In preparation for the upcoming session I’ve been thinking more about economic development and Medicaid and the 158 million dollars that we have in the budget and where that goes.””
You are here: Home / Legislature set to convene