By the Numbers
The Iowa General Assembly has now missed its target for adjournment by a week, with the sticking point as always being the state budget. Some are trying to make something out of the fact that the House has a GOP majority, as does the Senate, plus holds the governor’s chair…yet there’s no agreement. Those are the same people complaining that since Republicans are in that position, they are steamrolling bad laws through and abusing their single-minded power…so you can’t win. And I remember when the shoe was on the other foot and Democrats had similar advantage in the statehouse.
59 of the 100 members of the House are Republicans…and 32 of the 50 Iowa Senators are with the GOP. That means a 59 percent majority in the House, and 64 percent majority in the Senate.
That’s not terribly close. And as the Speaker of the House notes, the Republican House caucus represents nearly every one of Iowa’s 99 counties…so it’s a bit disingenuous for Democrats to say how terrible and unrepresentative of Iowa bills such as those banning vaccine passports, or defining who can play gender-based high school sports, are. Seems like Iowans voted last November to keep the Senate proportions the same, and increase the House GOP majority…so it’s hard to say the Republicans aren’t in step with Iowans.
Granted, that power can be abused…but as we’ve seen in various ways this session alone, political party affiliation does not mean single-mindedness. And, by the numbers, there’s support for actions taken on schools, firearms, and more.
Contrast that, if you will, with the situation in Washington that we’ve noted before…where Democrats only have a majority in the Senate when the Vice President serves as a tie breaker and House Democrats only hold a 6 seat margin, with 5 vacancies in the chamber…yet they act like the last election was a unanimous mandate to fundamentally change the country.
So say what you want about bills coming from the golden dome in Des Moines…just don’t say they aren’t representative of voters.
