Republicans in the Iowa Senate have voted for a plan that cuts nearly 32 million from the current year’s state budget. It is about 20 million dollars less than their earlier proposal. Senator Charles Schneider is a Republican from West Des Moines. “We’re trying to make these adjustments in a fiscally responsible way,” Schneider said. “First, we’re prioritizing where we’re making these adjustments.” The bill still calls for carving millions out of the budgets for the state’s prisons, courts and community colleges. It cuts funding for the three state universities by about 14-and-a-half million. “This is what thousands of Iowa families had to do during The Great Recession when a lot of them faced salary reductions or a loss of income, they had to take a look at their own spending and make adjustments,” Schneider said. “That’s the approach that we believe is the right approach and what we’re proposing today.”

Senator Brad Zaun, a Republican from Urbandale, would have preferred deeper cuts to state universities. He accuses the board that governs the schools of being “addicted” to erecting new campus buildings that rival the “Taj Mahal.” “See, the Board of Regents doesn’t understand the concept of tightening belts,” Zaun said. Democrats in the Senate called the G-O-P’s bill reckless and misguided. Senator Joe Bolkcom, a Democrat from Iowa City, says Iowans are suffering through “G-O-P budget whiplash.”  “We don’t have a spending problem. We have a priorities and a management problem,” Bolkcom said. “…Iowa Republicans, unfortunately, are falling far short.”

Senator Rich Taylor, a Democrat from Mount Pleasant, is a retired correctional officer. He says the three-and-a-half million to the state’s prison system will make an already dangerous situation worse. “The only thing they have left to cut is staff,” Taylor said. “There is no more room for cutting the Department of Corrections.”  This debate about cutting the current year’s state budget will continue next week. The House must debate its own plan to reduce state spending to ensure the budget stays in the black.

(Radio Iowa)