Medicaid And Education Funding Center Stage At Eggs And Issues
Iowa House Representative Guy Vander Linden speaks at Saturday’s Eggs & Issues.
Oskaloosa, Iowa – The bitter cold had found its way to Mahaska County on Saturday morning, but that didn’t stop nearly 100 people from making their way to Smokey Row Coffee to hear from their local legislators, and to ask them questions.
The legislators spoke about the bills and legislation currently impacting Iowans, including school funding, which is always a topic for discussion at Eggs and Issues.
This time around, the discussion also turned towards Medicaid, and the privatization plan being proposed by Iowa Governor Terry Branstad.
On Thursday,the Democrat controlled Iowa Senate voted to repeal Branstad’s plan. The bill, Senate File 2125 will land in the Republican controlled Iowa House dead on arrival.
In his opening commentary, Iowa Republican Senator Ken Rozenboom utilized a chart to highlight the spending for Iowa Medicaid, saying that a four fold increase in Medicaid spending has taken place in 15 years.
A local attorney, and former Democratic House Representative, Eric Palmer asked Iowa Senator Ken Rozenboom and the other legislators if they are in favor of Branstad’s Medicaid privatization plans. Palmer also asked if Guy Vander Linden and Larry Sheets would support a debate on the house floor concerning Senate File 2125.
Rozenboom said that he supports privatization or modernization of Medicaid in Iowa because of increasing cost, while Iowa House Representative Guy Vander Linden (R) said that if the bill was to make it to the house floor, he would be happy to debate it.
Vander Linden spoke in his opening comment about a proposed 2 percent increase for school spending, adding that the increase will require other state government agencies to take a cut to their budget. Those agencies include public safety and health and human services. Vander Linden explained that a 1 percent increase in supplemental state aid for education is more than 40 million dollars.
A local resident asked the legislators if business tax changes are impacting the capabilities of government to fund itself. She said that it seems disingenuous that education funding may take a hit while business taxes continue to be cut. Iowa House Representative Larry Sheets (R) said that the amount of teachers added to Iowa classrooms has increased by 809, and funding has increased by half-a-billion dollars, adding that 93 percent of all new money coming into the state this year will be finding its way into education. Sheets says that he believes that shows education is a priority.
The Iowa Legislature will be facing its first funnel on Friday. This means that all bills for the session must have gone through and been approved by a committee.
