Gov. Reynolds, Speaker Grassley at odds in state budget proposals
DES MOINES, Iowa — There is one day left in the legislative session, but there was no flurry of activity in the Iowa Capitol building as lawmakers wait until an agreed upon budget.
The Iowa Republican controlled legislature will miss the deadline to end the session, the 110th day and will now work in overtime with a party divided over the state budget. With the budget expected to be just shy of $9.5 billion dollars, $36 million is holding up the final gavel out of the year.
Governor Kim Reynolds on Monday announced that her and the Iowa Senate were in an agreement on the FY 26 budget, sitting at $9.417 billion. House Republicans are at $9.453 billion, but Reynolds wants the House Republican caucus to match the lower budget because of state tax cuts and federal policy.
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'I believe that this tariff, the tariff strategy that the President has put in place, I believe it's going to work but it's going to take some time and it's bumpy,' said Governor Reynolds. 'And that could potentially have an impact on our economy. So we need to buckle down and really think about how much and what we're spending on. And so, that's why I ended up aligning with the Senate, because I mean, if we could even get lower, I'd probably go lower.'
The Governor added that her initial budget at the beginning of the year was too high for her liking and had operated under the assumption she would come to a lower agreement this year.
For House Republicans, the Speaker of the House told reporters on Thursday that a $14 million funding policy is a major sticking point.
'That was included in the original number that was part of the governor's proposed budget. At no point did we think that wasn't going to be something that we were going to be able to find. And I will be honest with you, that's one of the pieces right now that I would say is one of the biggest sticking points. Our caucus feels extremely strong that if we're going to provide that level of support that we did with that bill last year, that we're not going to go back and just cut that and leave schools in a situation to find the difference. Those are more like Governor Culver practices that we saw and we don't want to see that happening on something like that,' said Speaker Grassley (R), District 57 from New Hartford.
That $14 million for paraeducator funding, which is what Grassley is referring too, was in Reynolds' budget at the beginning of the year. That was approved by lawmakers last year, as a part of negotiations involving changes to the state's area education agencies. Reynolds dropped that $14 million in that agreement with Iowa Senate Republicans, but Grassley is holding strong on it as lawmakers committed to it last year.
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