(Radio Iowa) – The attack on the U.S. Capitol was on the minds of lawmakers at the Iowa Capitol as the 2021 legislative session began this (Monday) morning. Senator Ken Rozenboom, a Republican from Oskaloosa, delivered the opening prayer. Opening day speeches at the Iowa legislature are typically congenial, with bipartisan cooperation as a common theme. That was not the case today (Monday). House Democratic Leader Todd Prichard of Charles City says as a 25-year Army veteran he was outraged by what happened in the U.S. Capitol.

He spent 15 months in Iraq during one of his four deployments. Prichard says Iowa lawmakers cannot turn a blind eye to what caused last week’s attack on the U.S. Capitol.

And Prichard, in opening day remarks on the House floor, named names.

Prichard also criticized Republican Representative Dean Fisher of Montour for a now-deleted Facebook post suggesting Republicans would prevail because, in Fisher’s words, “our side has the guns and the other side doesn’t know which bathroom to use.” House Republican Leader Matt Windschitl of Missouri Valley, a Marine Corps veteran, spoke seconds after Prichard.

Windschitl says our state and country are going through extremely unprecedented times.

Senate Democratic Leader Zach Wahls of Coralville accused President Trump of undermining confidence in American elections and inciting “insurrection” in the nation’s capitol.

Senate Republican Leader Jack Whitver did not respond to Wahls’ comments today (Monday). Last Thursday, Whitver condemned the violence at the U.S. Capitol.

Wahls also used his opening day speech to call for creation of an independent commission to investigate the state’s response to the pandemic.

There was an increased presence of law enforcement officers inside and outside the statehouse today (Monday). A few hundred protesters gathered inside the Capitol this (Monday) to raise their objections to mask mandates and vaccines.