IA Sen. McKinley: Memos 5/28/2009 May 28, 2009 McKinley’s Memos Senate Republican Leader Paul McKinley Governor Chet Culver made it official this week. He has added his signature of approval to the largest budget in the 163 year history of the state of Iowa. His record $6.3 billion dollar budget, a compilation of several spending bills approved by the governor’s party allies in the Legislature during the finals days of the 2009 session, will take effect on July 1, 2009 and run through June 30 of 2010. This year’s budget even trumps the record deficit spending levels enacted during the first two years of the governor’s term. During those two years, the state’s budget grew by an unsustainable 21 percent – nearly a one billion dollar increase. The record levels of spending during this session and the previous two sessions have come as a result of an executive and legislative branch solely controlled by one party. Ever since the Iowa General Assembly adjourned nearly a month ago, many of the state’s newspapers have written articles with headlines that give Iowans a very clear, yet ominous picture about the fiscal future of Iowa. One prime example is the headline from The Des Moines Register from the day after the Legislature had finally adjourned following a sleepless marathon weekend of spending and borrowing. The headline simply read: “2nd all-nighter yields biggest budget ever”. Iowans saw their government’s budget grow by hundreds of millions of dollars in new spending over the spending levels of previous record setting budgets and yet their legislators did it while most were sleeping and unaware. The Sioux City Journal last week had an article with the simple headline, “Culver says he’s done cutting budget.” This headline ought to leave Iowa taxpayers scratching their head. Hardworking Iowans know that you cannot be done with a project unless the project has actually started. Not only has Governor Culver not started to cut Iowa’s budget, the budget actually continues to grow year after year on his watch. Iowa’s families and employers are making difficult decisions and finding responsible areas to cut during challenging economic times, yet Governor Culver and legislative allies have not followed the lead of Iowans all over the state in making hard sacrifices. The out-of-control spending is leading many Iowans to be concerned about the future fiscal health of the state. A recent The Des Moines Register story entitled, “Budget fears prompt calls for reform from Iowa lawmakers,” provides a chilling financial outlook for the state next year as a result of the irresponsible spending increases. Because so much of this new budget was built with one-time federal stimulus dollars that will not be available next year, Iowans could easily be staring at over a $900 million dollar deficit next year according to the non-partisan Legislative Services Agency (LSA). If Iowa’s economy does not begin to pick up steam, that deficit could become larger and easily eclipse one billion dollars. Iowa did not even have a billion dollar budget until 1976. Senate Republicans have constantly and consistently called for reduced spending, borrowing and bonding and have advocated for less taxation. We have also offered tens of millions of dollars in immediate budget savings only to have the current majority party in the Legislature reject those smart cost savings solutions. When signing the budget into law this week, Governor Culver had an opportunity to use his line item veto authority to significantly cut back some of the excessive spending passed by his legislative counterparts last month. Instead, Governor Culver used his veto pen to strike the rare cost saving measures enacted by this legislature this session that would have provided more transparency and reformed state government. For example, the governor vetoed provisions that would reduce the size of the state’s vehicle fleet. The state already has dozens of unused cars that are literally collecting dust in state parking garages but as a result of the governor’s veto, the state will now spend even more money to buy more brand new vehicles. In addition, the governor vetoed a common sense provision that would require state employees to turn in actual receipts to receive reimbursements and he also vetoed provisions cutting back on out-of-state travel. However, Iowans must also remember that in addition to the record spending on the budget, there was also record spending on bonding schemes that will leave future generations of Iowans to foot the bill for decades to come. In the closing hours of this session, the current party in power in the Legislature at the request of Governor Culver passed three bonding bills totaling approximately $830 million dollars. After all the fees and interest are added in, this new spending will cost taxpayers almost $1.7 billion dollars. College freshmen will be 50 years old before this debt is paid off. Now that all action has been taken on the 2009 legislative session, we will work towards the 2010 session by crafting practical solutions to the big issues facing Iowa. I encourage and welcome the input of all Iowans because we understand that when Iowans have a greater voice in their government, government will become more responsive and more efficient. I will continue to advocate our common sense message of less spending, less taxation and more jobs for Iowa because we understand that this is not the time to be growing Iowa’s government as is the case now – this is the time we should be growing Iowa’s economy. As always, I welcome hearing from my constituents and can be reached by phone at 515-281-3560 or by e-mail at paul.mckinley@legis.state.ia.us and please add me as a friend on Facebook! Paul McKinley Iowa Senator