House Republicans issue $7.175 billion spending targets

DES MOINES - Majority House Republicans issued spending targets Wednesday totaling $7.175 billion for the next fiscal year - a budget position that puts them at odds with legislative Democrats and with GOP Gov. Terry Branstad heading into negotiations aimed at shutting down the 2015 legislative session.

'It is important to Iowans that we do not spend more than we have and live within our means,” said Rep. Chuck Soderberg, R-LeMars in a statement that accompanied the release of House GOP proposed fiscal 2016 spending levels.

'While standing by this principle for the last five legislative sessions, Republicans have found common ground with the governor and Senate Democrats. We expect to continue those efforts this year,” Soderberg added. 'Living within one's means is something the hardworking taxpayers of Iowa do every day. Government needs to do the same.”

However, Senate Democrats said the GOP targets that are below Democrats in every budget category are an attempt to squeeze government to make room for tax cuts while hurting effort to improve and reform education, provide services to needy Iowans, and fulfill commitments made in previous sessions.

'We think their targets are unworkable for state government. It would have a dramatically bad impact on education in the state of Iowa,” said Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs.

'Apparently the efforts at ed reform a few years ago were kind of like the Wizard of Oz - don't pay any attention to that guy behind the curtain because there is no commitment to really improving education in the state of Iowa,” he said. 'I think that's the biggest impact of the budget, but I also think pretty dramatically as you look across state government here you're going to see unanswered phones, you're going to see permits piling up on people's desks - this is going to be pretty devastating to state government.”

House Republicans were about $45 million below Democrats in providing standing appropriations that include supplemental state aid to K-12 schools. Branstad and legislative Republicans have proposed a 1.25 percent boost in state aid for fiscal 2016 while Democrats lowered their request to a 2.625 percent increase in an attempt to forge compromise.

House GOP targets also are about $100 million below Democrats in the health and human services, area, $47 million lower in higher education, $14 million lower for justice systems funding and about $3 million lower in spending for economic development purposes.

'We spend a little less in every area and together those add up,” said House Majority Leader Linda Upmeyer, R-Clear Lake.

House GOP targets were released one day after Gov. Terry Branstad urged the split-control Legislature to 'get serious” about resolving state budget disagreements, saying the problems are not insurmountable and should not threaten a government shutdown like the impasse in 2011.

Branstad offered a budget plan in January that sought to spend $7.341 billion in fiscal 2016, which would be a 5 percent increase over current spending and would use $129 million of the state's carry-over surplus to balance the ledger while covering ongoing commitments to provide property tax relief and reform education.

Majority Senate Democrats issued a fiscal 2016 budget outline last week that calls for spending the same $7.341 billion proposed by Branstad, but parts ways with his priorities by seeking a higher investment for K-12 schools for the coming school year.

'We are at a budget that is the same as the governor - not exactly the biggest spender in the history of the state of Iowa,” said Gronstal. 'We're on the same page as the governor. We think that that's a responsible budget and we're going to continue to press for a responsible state budget.”

House Speaker Kraig Paulsen, R-Hiawatha, said there is flexibility with the GOP targets to move money around but overall they will not support spending more than the $7.175 billion the state is projected to take in next fiscal year, especially not using one-time sources to finance ongoing spending commitments.

'We'll have to work through this,” he said. 'I think now we have targets we can set side by side and hopefully next week we will have bills and individual line items we can set side by side.”

Branstad acknowledged that he and House Republicans have a difference of opinion on whether carry-over surplus funds that are available for budgeting under Iowa's 99 percent spending limitation law should be considered as one-time money - an issue that contributes to the $166 million difference between House GOP targets and spending level set by the governor and now Senate Democrats.

Branstad spokesman Jimmy Centers said the governor and his staff will continue to work with both the Iowa House and the Iowa Senate to try to find an agreement.

'The governor's priority, as it has been since he took office in 2011, is to provide stability and predictability in the budgeting process, something that he believes the taxpayers deserve,” Centers said Wednesday.

'I think at that bottom line number” of $7.175 billion that House Republicans have established, said Sen. Bob Dvorsky, D-Coralville, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, 'I think it's really difficult not to be laying off employees and not providing a number of services that the state needs.”