(Radio Iowa) – A spokesman for the top Republican in the Iowa Senate says there are signs of progress as Sente Majority Leader Jack Whitver continues treatment for a brain tumor. Last May, Whitver announced that he was receiving radiation therapy for a brain tumor. A spokesman for Whitver says multiple scans this fall have shown the tumor is getting smaller and Whitver is in the middle of a series of drug therapy treatments. During an interview with Radio Iowa, Senator Whitver briefly addressed his health journey.

“I just really appreciate the support I’ve received from a lot of people in this state and it’s really humbling,” Whitver said. “I’m very thankful for that support and we’re going to just keep fighting.” Whitver turned 44 in September. He was first elected to the Iowa Senate in 2010 and has been majority leader since 2018. Last month, Whitver’s Republican colleagues voted to keep him in the role and he says the party’s top priority for 2025 is addressing concerns about Iowa’s property tax system.

“It’s something that we hear about on the campaign trail and we want to be responsive to Iowans,” Whitver said, “and so we are going to put a lot of time this year into property taxes.” Legislators will also be crafting a 12-month budget for the state for the next fiscal year with a lower amount of tax revenue than is being spent in the current year. “We expected revenues to decrease. And, really, that was the point of tax cuts, right? And so we’re watching that closely,” Whitver says. “We think the state is collecting too much money and we want to get as much back to the taxpayer as possible.”

Last year, Governor Reynolds signed a law shrinking the number of state agencies from 37 to 17 and Reynolds has said she has more plans for streamlining state government operations. Whitver says Senate Republicans are eager to have those discussions. “When you look at state government, it is huge and often it grows on its own, without thought,” Whitver said, “and so any kind of reorganization that needs to be done, we are more than happy to be at the table to work on that.”

House Speaker Pat Grassley recently created a new committee in the Iowa House to review the state’s entire higher education system. In 2018, Whitver suggested it might be time to create a state commission to study the state universities and how they could be more effective.  “We have looked at the Regents over the years, made changes where necessary. The governor has been appointing very strong, capable people there,” Whitver says. “If there’s changes to make, that the House is looking to make, we’re happy to work with them. I personally feel like the Regents have done a fairly good job over the last several years, but we can always do better and happy to work with the House on anything they’re bringing forward.”

House leaders say their review of the state’s higher education system will examine Iowa’s private colleges as well as Iowa’s 15 community colleges and the three state-supported universities. Whitver says senators would act if there’s something really egregious at private colleges that needs to be addressed, but he says Senate Republicans hope the primary focus is on the public universities.