New GOP slogan: Crumbs for colleges, plenty for Pentagon

A 1997 issue of Iowa Heritage Illustrated urged readers to “support Iowa’s leading edge in education” by paying an extra $35 for a special license plate.

How quaint! The intervening 24 years have brought GOP-controlled budgets gutting education funding at all levels, such that now Iowa languishes in the middle of the pack— no longer at the leading edge. Iowa’s universities rank in the bottom 10 among their peers in increased state funding per student — not because of empty coffers but because state GOP legislators want to punish universities for pushing “liberal ideas” to our college kids.

Even pre-schools are now in a “pay to play” posture, so that because of a cut in state funding, much of their directors’ time is spent organizing bake sales, raffles and GoFundMe campaigns.

The situation at the federal level is similarly bleak. The Build Back Better bill now stalled in the Senate would give a huge boost to pre-schools, educator recruitment and retention, and healthy school meals. But every Iowa GOP legislator in the House opposed it. The pressure on Sen. Joe Manchin to vote for the bill wouldn’t be necessary if just one of Iowa’s senators supported it.

It’s worth noting is that Sens. Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst and all of Iowa’s Republican representatives voted to pad the Pentagon budget with an extra $25 billion it didn’t request.

Republicans love buzz phrases. I have some suggestions: Tittle for Toddlers, Crumbs for Colleges, Plenty for the Pentagon, Tax Cuts for Tycoons.

Karen Heidman

Sioux City