Letter: GOP should focus on existing problems

There they go again: Iowa Republican legislators offering solutions to problems that don't exist.

The first one is voter ID. A few years ago thousands of dollars were spent in a futile search for massive voter fraud. Now the Legislature is considering spending money requiring registered voters without a government-issued form of identification to have a voter ID card. Do legislators think ineligible voters will risk being caught, accused of a felony or possibly deported? Voter ID is an unnecessary requirement in a state with excellent registration systems and precinct poll workers.

The second solution looking for a problem is defunding clinics that provide abortion. In defunding such clinics, Iowa loses federal subsidies and plans to spend additional state tax dollars establishing new clinics that don't provide abortion and will duplicate services provided. How many times do we have to repeat that no tax dollars, neither state nor federal, are spent on abortion? Those tax dollars go to various screening tests and contraceptive services. What's the matter? Are Republicans afraid if state tax dollars coexist in the same budget they will contract a Fiscally Transmitted Disease?

Instead of spending dollars on these solutions without problems, I recommend increasing funding for public schools in order to maintain high standards of education.

Clearly, Republicans have abandoned one of their basic tenets: conservative fiscal responsibility. Perhaps they can't resist the feeling of the power of dominating the state Legislature.

Elizabeth A. Belden

Alburnett