DES MOINES: Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal of Council Bluffs today said Iowans must get involved to break the stalemate over the state budget. |DES MOINES: Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal of Council Bluffs today said Iowans must get involved to break the stalemate over the state budget. Gronstal announced a statewide effort that started yesterday to urge Iowans to call Governor Branstad’s office at 515-281-5211 to object to severe cuts to education and economic development.
“Governor Branstad stubbornly demands two years of starvation cuts to education and economic development,” said Gronstal. “It is time for Iowans who care about educational opportunity and job creation to call the Governor at 515-281-5211 and urge him to compromise.”
Gronstal released a list of 10 cuts to preschools, local schools, community and private colleges, public universities, and job creation initiatives that he said are preventing an overall budget agreement from being reached.
He argued that deep cuts to education and jobs are unnecessary and will hurt Iowa’s recovery. At the end of this fiscal year on June 30, the state of Iowa’s reserve funds will be full at more than $600 million. In addition, Iowa’s recovering economy means the state budget is projected to end the year with a positive ending balance of more than 300 million additional dollars.
On the heels of a news conference yesterday in Cedar Rapids by Linn County lawmakers, Gronstal announced today that Iowa’s Democratic state senators will continue to travel the state to meet with community leaders and urge concerned Iowans to call the Governor as soon as possible.
“If Governor Branstad was listening to Iowans, such severe and unnecessary cuts to our schools and colleges would obviously be off the table,” Gronstal said. So Democrats are spreading out across the state to ask Iowans to ‘Call Governor Branstad’ and urge him to compromise.”
