Iowa lawmakers express optimism over budget talks

DES MOINES (AP) ? Iowa House and Senate leaders, deadlocked for months over a new state budget, now predict they will reach agreement by next week.

?We probably had arguably the most productive meeting we?ve had in two months with the Senate,? said House Speaker Kraig Paulsen, R-Hiawatha, of Thursday?s bargaining session. ?I think we?re all sincere in that effort and I think next week is a possibility.?

Paulsen met with reporters after Thursday?s bargaining session, while Senate Majority Leader Michael Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs, issued a statement.

?I am encouraged by negotiations this morning with Republican legislators and the governor?s staff,? Gronstal said. ?We believe that we can reach an agreement that would receive bipartisan support in the Senate and pass the House because it would avert a government shutdown by making spending cuts while still investing in our future.?

Neither side would discuss details of the bargaining, though Paulsen says Republicans will hold firm on their proposal to cap state spending in the next fiscal year at $5.9 billion.

The two sides were scheduled to resume negotiations today.

Paulsen said a key to the breakthrough was House passage on Wednesday of the Republican-backed $5.9 billion budget, an omnibus spending bill that rolls all of the state?s budgets into a single measure.

?I think running the omnibus bill yesterday and sending it over to the Senate had the effect we were hoping for,? he said. ?It kick-started the negotiations I think yesterday made a difference and we?re pleased about that.?

Gronstal had a sharply different take on why the budget talks are suddenly moving.

?In the end, we believe a deal will be possible because Iowans are raising their voices after being empowered with vital, accurate information about the effects of woefully inadequate investments in our schools and other key services,? he said.

Democrats have insisted on a 2 percent increase in state spending on local schools and continuation of the existing preschool. Republicans have offered to approve the 2 percent increase, but only in the second year of the two-year plan, and have agreed to continue preschool.

?We are encouraged by the nature of today?s discussions,? said Tim Albrecht, a spokesman for Gov. Terry Branstad. ?While there is still significant work to be done in ironing out the details, we are clearly beginning to see a pathway toward resolving these issues.?

Paulsen said House and Senate staffers, nonpartisan legislative budget advisers and Branstad?s budget aides would comb through the latest Democratic proposal.

?They?ll go through and start figuring out from a global sense what the numbers are,? he said. ?They gave us something very broad and now we?ll work through the details.?

There was still room for partisan sniping, as Senate Democrats continued their weeklong series of hearings where they bring in advocates to complain about the Republican-backed budget.

?The budget that came over from the House, I believe, ought to shock the conscience of Iowans,? said Sen. Jeff Danielson, D-Cedar Falls.

Sen. Merlin Bartz, R-Grafton, warned at the same hearing that severe flooding in western Iowa and a sluggish economy are combining to force lawmakers to cut back on spending.

?The last thing we need to do in this state is spend every dime out of the reserve accounts,? said Bartz.

Pressure on all sides has been increased because of the looming end of this fiscal year on June 30, a deadline that would leave the state without a budget.