GOP leader expresses frustration over budget

DES MOINES (AP) ? The Republican speaker of the Iowa House accused Democrats on Tuesday of stonewalling state budget talks and pushing instead for a government shutdown.

House Speaker Kraig Paulsen said Republicans have offered a compromise spending plan and have heard nothing in return.

?I am rapidly coming to the conclusion that they are pushing us toward a shutdown,? said Paulsen, of Hiawatha. ?We?re 23 days way from the end of the fiscal year and we don?t have time for delay.?

If Democrats disagree with the GOP spending plan, they should offer counter proposals, he said.

?If they?d like a different number tell us what that is,? Paulsen said. ?Give me an alternative.?

The Legislature?s top Democrat rejected the charge, saying Democrats are simply carefully reviewing the Republican plan.

?We are having good conversations with them about what the eventual targets will be,? Senate Majority Leader Michael Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs, said in an interview with The Associated Press. ?We are reviewing the numbers, and they have come up in some areas.?

As Gov. Terry Branstad continued traveling the state in an effort to build public support for the Republicans? proposal, lawmakers from both parties agreed the deadlock won?t end soon.

?Obviously it?s going to take some time,? said Sen. Bob Dvorsky, D-Coralville, who heads the Senate Appropriations Committee

Gronstal counseled patience.

?Their first budget appeared last Friday. That was their first budget, 140 days into the session,? he said. ?Our budget has been out there since April 15.?

Paulsen and Gronstal said they planned to meet privately Tuesday to discuss the budget.

Also on Tuesday, union activists rallied at the Statehouse against spending cuts proposed by Republicans, while a House committee planned to take public comment on the GOP budget plan. Meanwhile, a Senate committee held its own public hearing on the budget.

The full House is scheduled to debate the Republican budget proposal Wednesday.

Republicans have proposed a two-year budget that spends $5.9 billion in the first year. They have agreed to boost state aid to local schools by 2 percent in the second year and to spend $35 million to continue free preschool programs.

Paulsen said those two proposals address the biggest concerns that Democrats have voiced.

Branstad said he?s been getting encouragement to hold firm during his tour of the state.

?People are saying we elected you to get this financial mess straightened out,? he said in a telephone interview. ?People are thanking me for not compromising on the basic principle of not spending more than we take in.?