Is a budget deal close? Maybe, maybe not

By Sioux City Journal

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As we suspect is true of most Iowans, we have given up on trying to read the direction of state budget talks. Each time we have been drawn into believing progress was being made and a deal was within reach, the two sides inexplicably have begun to bad-mouth one another again and talks have stalled, if not regressed.

Words, from both sides of the aisle, like “We're coming pretty close on the budget,” “I think we had a good day” and “I do feel things are moving in a positive direction” sound hopeful, but ring familiar.

So we will put our crystal ball aside and simply wait with everyone else for an end to this frustrating stalemate while the final days of the fiscal year evaporate.

When the Legislature opened for business in January, everyone assembled in Des Moines knew (or should have known) the budget was priority number one for the session. That we are one week away from the Fourth of July and state lawmakers still haven't wrapped up budget work is, quite frankly, irresponsible. Both sides share the blame.

Still, here we are. Without a final deal, Iowa will enter the uncharted waters of starting a new fiscal year without a budget in just five days.

Confidently, Gov. Terry Branstad vows he will, if necessary, use his executive authority to keep all state services open, but he offers no specific details. Essentially, he told reporters - and, by extension, Iowans - at his weekly news conference to research the subject in the Constitution and Iowa Code themselves.

Branstad flatly rejects talk of a government shutdown. Isn't going to happen, he says.

Some Democrats within and outside state government are, not surprisingly, critical of Branstad's bold talk. State Democratic Party Chairwoman Sue Dvorsky called the governor's failure to publicly release contingency plans for at least a partial shutdown of government “recklessness.”

With less than a week to go before the start of a new fiscal year, it isn't unreasonable for the Branstad administration to at least be prepared for the possibility of a shutdown and to lay out a detailed game plan. If he, in fact, possesses the executive powers to keep the state running, then he should offer more specifics. “Trust me” isn't enough.

Given the positive way everyone was talking recently, though, talk of a shutdown and executive powers may be moot.

The rhetoric was hopeful. A final agreement may, finally, be at hand.

Then again, it may not be.

We aren't predicting.