Iowa Legislature adjournment held up by disagreement on education, health care

DES MOINES - After all but declaring an impasse Wednesday morning, Iowa legislative leaders ended the day voicing optimism they made progress toward an agreement to wrap up the 2015 legislative session, now in a fourth overtime week.

However, neither Speaker Kraig Paulsen, R-Hiawatha, nor Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs, would predict when they will call senators and representatives back to approve a $7 billion-plus general fund budget and legislative pieces including school bullying, guns, eminent domain, domestic violence, broadband access and fireworks.

'I think we made more progress today,” Paulsen said. 'We'll be back in again tomorrow and see if we can't get closer to the end.”

Although there was no 'global solution,” Gronstal agreed there was progress in the discussions between Senate majority Democrats and House majority Republicans.

'It's still a big jump between us, a leap,” he said. 'You might even need wings to make that leap at this point, but it's a lot closer than it was a week ago.”

It's a time-consuming process as the parties seek agreement on a global budget number. Gronstal said the $166 million gap between the House and Senate is under $100 million now.

'It's challenging (because) they know where they started and where they are going,” he said. 'We know where we started and where we're going. At each occasion we have to say ‘What does this mean?' ‘What does this mean?' ‘What does this mean?' A lot of time is spent getting people on the same page so we are truly comparing apples to apples.”

The leaders also agreed that the major sticking points are funding for K-12 education and health care.

Democrats are 'fighting for kids in classrooms this fall. Crowded classrooms. Much more crowded because of inadequate funding for K-12 education,” Gronstal said.

'I'm fighting to make sure that people both have access to health care coverage and that other Iowans don't indirectly pick up the tab because the state's unwilling to appropriate enough resources to pay for the care of people who can't afford to pay for their own care,” he said. 'I think those are pretty important issues.”

Republican, Gronstal said, 'Only look at a balance sheet, only look at those numbers.”

'That's ridiculous if that's what he said,” Paulsen responded.

'Look we passed a budget of $7.168 billion,” Paulsen said. 'It meets the priorities of Iowans, the needs of Iowans. We're willing to spend a little bit more and make some one-time investments in various different things. We think that's a responsible budget that we can sustain.”

The state has the capacity to do more, Gronstal insisted.

'When this session is over, we will have in essence $1 billion in savings,” he said. 'The law says we should have approx. $700 million - 10 percent of the state budget.”

Republicans recognize that Democrats, and in some cases, Gov. Terry Branstad, want to spend more, 'so we have indicated flexibility,” Paulsen said.

'There are some legit one-time expenses that serve the taxpayers correctly. We're willing to do that,” he said, but declined to identify which one-time expenses Republicans have agreed to fund.

Democrats are nearing their limit for concessions, Gronstal warned.

'We're close to the end of our ability to tweak” budget numbers, he said.

Paulsen agreed that perhaps progress has slowed, but wasn't ready to declare an impasse.

'Look, Iowans picked a Democratic-controlled Senate and a Republican-controlled House,” he said. 'That's not necessarily a recipe for a quick resolution. That doesn't mean we're not committed to finding it.”