The Iowa Senate

State of Iowa

Eighty-Second General Assembly

STATEHOUSE

Des Moines, Iowa 50319

For Immediate Release: Wednesday, May 2, 2007

Contact: Mary Lundby, (319) 389-1010

Jeff Angelo, (641) 340-3712

David Johnson, (712) 348-2953

Larry McKibben (641) 751-0157

John Putney, (515) 240-8866

Ron Wieck, (712) 251-4586

Senate Republican Truth Tour Sheds Light on 2007 Legislative Session

DES MOINES – Senate Republicans this week traveled around the state to discuss the highlights and lowlights of the 2007 legislative session.

“During this year’s legislative session, the Democrat-majority moved forward with a big government, big mandate, bad for jobs agenda that left many Iowans behind,” said Senate Republican Leader Mary Lundby (R-Marion).

Democrats control both chambers of the Legislature and the governor’s office for the first time since 1965. Lundby said the majority party used its new power to push an extreme, anti-jobs agenda, which included items such as repealing Iowa’s Right to Work law.

“Democrats’ push to gut Right to Work discourages job creation and takes away freedom of choice for Iowa’s working families,” said Lundby. “The effort has already had a chilling effect on economic growth. Several companies that were once considering Iowa as part of their expansion plans are now looking to other states.”

The Democrats’ penchant for big spending and increased taxes is also a concern to Republican senators. The Legislature approved a budget of nearly $6 billion for the next fiscal year that included more than $170 million in new revenue from increasing the cigarette tax as well as other new taxes and fees.

Democrats are on track to spend an additional $1 billion in state money in just two years, said Lundby, who noted that the state didn’t reach its first $1 billion in spending until 1976.

“This level of spending is just not sustainable,” said Lundby. “Iowa’s economy will not be able to generate $1 billion in new tax revenue over the next two years, which means Democrats are setting Iowans up for a whopper of a tax increase to pay for all of their spending.”

“During their first year in power, Democrats increased spending by 10 percent over last year’s budget,” said Lundby. “In contrast, Republicans cut Iowans’ income taxes by 10 percent when we took over the majority in 1997. I believe Iowans should keep more of their hard-earned money, not give it away in taxes.”

Senate Republicans said they are also concerned about the Democrat-majority’s failure to increase Iowans’ access to affordable healthcare. “Unfortunately, all Iowans will get in the area of affordable health care is yet another commission to study the issue, an increased tax on tobacco and more General Fund spending.”

“Democrats missed tremendous opportunities this year, in terms of both health care reform and property tax reform,” said Lundby. “These are two issues that Iowans care deeply about and, unfortunately, there will be no measurable progress in the near future.”

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2007 Legislative Session

Issue	Democrats	Republicans
Jobs/ Economic Growth	Democrats pushed a big government, big mandate, bad for jobs agenda, including: Repealing Iowa’s Right to Work law; Increasing the minimum wage while refusing to look for ways to lessen the impact on small businesses; Mandating health insurance coverage for new items; Opening up the flood gates for frivolous lawsuits that will simply put greater pressure on our overburdened legal system and provide a payday for lawyers; Taking away businesses’ right to establish a smoking policy that works best for them, their workers and their customers.	Senate Republicans fought to keep Iowa’s Right to Work law and proposed several measures to help small businesses, including: Providing tax credits for small businesses to help provide employee health coverage; Increasing funding for the Linked Investment for Tomorrow (LIFT) program, which provides low-interest loans for small business owners who want to grow their operations; Creating a Bioscience Net Operating Loss Purchase Fund, which would help jumpstart small Iowa-based bioscience companies in the early stages of development; Increasing funding for grants and technical support to communities that are revitalizing their main street business districts.
Budget/Taxes	Democrats approved a state budget of nearly $6 billion. Their budget increases spending by 10 percent over last year’s budget, and they are set to spend an additional $1 billion over two years. In order to support this unsustainable spending level, Democrats will have to increase taxes to generate more revenue for the state treasury.	During Republicans first year in the majority (1997), we held the line on spending and reduced Iowans’ income taxes by 10 percent.
Health Care	Democrats missed tremendous opportunities to increase access to affordable health care for Iowans. Their health care agenda was built on increasing the tobacco tax, using the money to increase General Fund spending and creating yet another commission to study the issue.	Senate Republicans offered several legislative proposals this year to increase access to affordable, quality health care. They included: § Offering tax credits for small employers to offer or maintain health care coverage for their workers; § Allowing Iowans more control over their own health care by establishing a loan fund to help more Iowans establish Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) § Increasing the Medicaid reimbursement rate for Iowa health care providers; § Providing more insurance coverage for low-income children; § Directing additional money to smoking cessation programs.