Most spending decisions for the state budget year that begins July 1 have not been made by lawmakers.
Republicans control the debate agenda and Senate Democratic Leader Janice Weiner said House and Senate Republicans haven’t agreed on the total level of spending yet.
“We are in some sort of disarray,” Weiner said. “It seems pretty clear that we’re going to be going into overtime at this point,”
The Iowa Constitution does not require the legislature to end on a certain date. However, this Friday is the 110th day of the 2025 legislative session and lawmakers will not get payments to cover expenses for traveling from their homes to Des Moines after May 2. Weiner said while Senate Republicans and Governor Reynolds have agreed on an overall level of spending, House Republicans have not revealed what their total spending target is.
“Republicans have been in charge for over eight years,” Weiner said. “…At this point it also bears repeating that both Governor Reynolds and the overall Senate Republicans’ budget target are deficit budgets, using one time reserve funds to cover ongoing expenses.”
Republicans say making withdrawals from state reserves was part of the plan when they passed income tax cuts. Speaker Pat Grassley, the top Republican in the House, said Republicans are meeting in private to hammer out budget details.
“The ball is still rolling when it comes to the budget negotiations…We’ve been having productive conversations,” Grassley said.
Lawmakers have made one spending decision on how much the state will spend on K-12 education in the next budget year. However, there was a two-month standoff between House and Senate Republicans before that decision was made in early April. Grassley said he’s “hopeful” overall budget negotiations won’t drag out much longer.
“I am not going to make any predictions. I know we’re getting kind of getting to that point in session where we need to start finding some resolution on things,” Grassley said.
Key House members are at the Capitol today for private meetings, but there will be no debate in the House. Senate leaders have released a list of 15 bills eligible for debate this afternoon. The Senate is likely to take confirmation votes today, so two members of the board that governs the three state universities may continue serving on the Board of Regents.