Chris Hagenow
The first public airing of some of the budget plans Republicans in the Iowa Senate have developed began at 10 o’clock this morning.
The Senate Appropriations Committee is expected to review and pass eight bills outlining spending for a variety of state agencies today. Budget bills for the Departments of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Transportation cleared the House yesterday.
House Republican Leader Chris Hagenow of Windsor Heights this morning said “unless something dramatic changes,” it’s unlikely legislators will complete work on the budget and other issues this week.
“There is nothing that’s quite like a legislative shutdown and it has twists and turns and ups and downs,” Hagenow told reporters, “and then, in the end, it all fits together.”
Hagenow said Republican legislative leaders and Republican Governor Kim Reynolds and her staff are meeting regularly to decide what has to be done now and what can wait ’til next year.
“It’s not even that it’s acrimonious or anything like that,” Hagenow said. “It’s productive, but it just takes time to have a series of meetings to put all those pieces together.”
A spending plan for state economic development programs will be considered in the full House today.