Iowa legislative leaders say they are closer to agreement on budget

DES MOINES – The “big number” continues to elude legislative leaders, but they insisted Monday they're getting closer.

Closer, in this case, is somewhere between $200 million and “several hundred million” apart, according to Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Bob Dvorsky, D-Coralville, and House Speaker Kraig Paulsen, R-Hiawatha, respectively.

“It's manageable,” Paulsen said, signaling the optimism he and Dvorsky share that along with Republican Gov. Terry Branstad lawmakers can agree on that big number relatively soon.

“Once you have that,” Paulsen added, “we have things teed up well to, I think, to be resolved, in a relatively quick fashion.”

There was little evidence of any activity around the Capitol May 6 as about 12 of 50 senators were on hand for a two-minute session before adjourning until Tuesday afternoon. About 20 of 100 representatives were on hand for a three-minute session in the House.

“Some (senators) are working with their counterparts by phone,” explained Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs.

Some might or might not been meeting with the governor's office. Branstad was out of state at a wind energy conference, but Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds insisted she and the governor's staff “can easily find time to meet when asked.”

Meeting is one thing, but agreeing is another and Dvorsky is stumped by House Republicans' reluctance to find middle ground on overall spending. Democrats proposed a $6.9 billion general fund budget. Republicans' budget target is $6.414 billion and the GOP governor proposed a $6.538 billion budget.

“We have resources,” Dvorsky said, referring to the state's $895 million surplus. “This is the time to have a decent operating budget so we can effectively operate government.”

Democrats' “surplus” is Republicans' taxpayer “overpayment,” Paulsen said, and the Legislature's default response should be to return the money.

However, just like an Iowan might dip into his savings account to put a new roof on his house, Republicans recognize the value of strategic investment in one-time expenditures with long-term benefits, Paulsen said.

“There are some things out there that I think would make good public policy and fiscal sense,” he said.

Budget negotiations are complicated by the fact Senate Democrats “have identified more things they want to spend money on than we did,” Paulsen said.

Dvorsky rejected the idea that in proposing to spend more than the governor and House Republicans, Senate Democrats are expanding government.

“We've shrunken government the last several years now to places where it hardly operates, so we're not growing anything,” he said. “We're trying to maintain the status quo, at best. We're not growing anything.”