Iowa state budget discussions off to partisan start
In what likely was a preview of coming budget debates, Democrats on Wednesday portrayed fiscal 2018 state budgets as “cuts upon cuts” while majority Republicans said the proposals reflect the “real world” of the state’s pocketbook.
Although Justice Systems Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Gary Worthan, R-Storm Lake, called the committee one of the most bipartisan in the Legislature, its budget proposals were approved on party lines.
The GOP’s $559 million budget for Justice Systems is almost $3.9 million less than what Republican Gov. Terry Branstad proposed. Their $178.8 million Judicial Branch budget is the same as the governor’s.
