Reynolds: No discussions with Branstad about joining Trump administration

DES MOINES - Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds said Monday she's had no discussions with Gov. Terry Branstad about ending his current term early to take a post in President-elect Donald Trump's administration and she expects the focus to be on working with a GOP-led Legislature to move their goals 'to the next level.”

Reynolds dismissed speculation about Branstad possibly being eyed as Trump's pick to be the next U.S. ambassador to China given his close ties to Chinese President Xi Jinping and his strong support in helping Trump win Iowa in last week's election. She also said it was coincidence that Branstad currently is leading an Iowa trade mission to China and Japan, noting the visit was planned months ago for this week.

'As you've heard the governor and I say multiple times, we're proud of what we've been able to do,” Reynolds said during the administration's weekly news conference Monday. 'But we're not done yet. We've got a lot to do, so I'm looking forward to continue serving Iowans.”

Reynolds sidestepped questions if she planned to run for governor in 2018 and told reporters, 'I don't know what the governor's going to do” when asked if she expected Branstad would seek a seventh term.

She did confirm that she and Branstad have not talked about the possibility of him not serving out the remaining two years and two months of his current term after an eventful election last week.

Republicans return to the Statehouse in January with a new majority in the Iowa Senate to go with a slightly larger majority in the Iowa House after Nov. 8 balloting in which Iowans backed Trump, held status quo on federal-level incumbents and put 29 GOP senators and 59 GOP representatives in charge at the Statehouse.

'I'm excited about this next legislative session and I'm excited to get back to work on behalf of Iowans,” Reynolds said. 'We're going to sit down - the governor and I and our team and our staff and legislators and we're going to talk about putting an agenda together that will take Iowa to the next level.”

The lieutenant governor said the Branstad administration's goals continue to be growing quality jobs, shrinking the size of government, returning Iowa schools to world-class caliber, making Iowa the healthiest state in the nation as a way to help control spiraling health care costs and improving the quality of Iowa's water supply.

'That's the big picture we're looking at,” Reynolds said. 'We'll sit down and take a look at everything and then work with legislators and see how we continue to move the state forward.”

The 2017 session's agenda may be tempered by the amount of state tax money that is available for budgeting once the state Revenue Estimating Conference meets in December.

'That could be somewhat restrictive on what our opportunities are moving forward. All of that has to come into play when we take a look at next steps,” she said.

Iowa's economic growth has been slowed by depressed farm prices that have hovered below the cost of production, and Reynolds said the objective of the trade mission Branstad currently is leading to China and Japan is to expand Iowa's exports and to encourage 'reverse investment” in Iowa by Chinese companies.