Iowa GOP scoffs at Democratic warning of ‘Frankenstein’ budget proposal

DES MOINES – Iowa House Republicans say a warning about a monster of a GOP budget bill is nothing more than a premature Halloween trick by Senate Democrats.

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Bob Dvorsky, D-Coralville, said June 1 that Republicans who control the House plan to pass an all-encompassing budget that is “big, ugly and threatens the security of middle-class Iowa families.”

“Iowans must be shocked to learn that (Republican Gov. Terry Branstad) and Republican legislators have cobbled together a budget bill that looks like Frankenstein,” Dvorsky said.

House Republicans will be caucusing June 2 to talk about how to jumpstart stalled budget negotiations with the Democratic-controlled Senate. However, there are no plans to act on what Dvorsky called a budget plan “stitching together several pieces of dead legislation into one big monster.”

The rhetorical flair is consistent with Democrats attempt to sabotage budget talks and threaten to shut down state government, said House Appropriations Chairman Rep. Scott Raecker, R-Urbandale.

“The House Republicans' budget spends less than the state takes in, meets priority needs, and brings fiscal responsibility and sustainability back to the Statehouse,” he said. “Continuing to scare Iowans and hardworking state employees about a government shutdown is unnecessary and unhelpful.”

One option for the majority party in either chamber is to put all the unresolved budget bills – and policy legislation – in one omnibus bill, pass it and send it to the other chamber.

That could be the upshot of Thursday's GOP caucus, according to a legislative staffer familiar with the negotiations. Republicans could pull together several budget and policy bills that have been under discussion, some even approved by the House, into one piece of legislation. However, whether the GOP will take that approach or what would be included has not been decided.

Senate Democrats and House Republicans agree they are about $100 million apart in their budget proposals. Republicans insist they won't spend more than $6 billion. Democrats say that would be a “starvation” budget shortchanging education, job creation and other priorities. They started $147 million apart, but House Republicans moved $100 million closer to the Senate spending plan, Raecker said.

“In the end, we hope the governor and Republican legislators will abandon their Frankenstein strategy and return to the bargaining table with a serious compromise plan,” Dvorsky said.

Raecker countered that it's Democrats who have failed to offer a compromise and “have been threatening to shut down state government for nearly a month.”

The current fiscal year ends June 30. It is not clear that state government functions would shutdown if no budget is in place July 1.