Republicans in the Iowa Legislature have rarely publicly disagreed with Gov. Kim Reynolds during her eight years in office. Even when they didn’t support her position on an issue, they would downplay any differences. That all changed on Wednesday, when Gov. Reynolds vetoed HF 639, a bill that would have added new requirements on projects […]
Iowa Senate Republican caucus
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Iowa Republicans advance bill with a ban on Medicaid funding for all forms of gender-affirming care
On Wednesday, Iowa Senate Republicans advanced a bill with a provision that would cut off funding for medical treatments for people with gender dysphoria, despite testimony pointing to a medical consensus that stopping access to such treatments can increase the risk of suicide among transgender people. This is the first piece of anti-trans legislation Iowa […]
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‘A middle finger to hardworking Iowans’: Iowa House and Senate approve bill to cut unemployment benefits
On Wednesday, the Iowa House and the Iowa Senate both passed versions of a bill that will cut unemployment benefits and is designed to force unemployed Iowans to take jobs that pay less than their former jobs more quickly than current law does. The bills passed both chambers with only Republicans voting for them. Cutting […]
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State senator calls COVID-19 vaccines ineffective before committee approves bill to ban vaccine requirements in schools and daycares
A Republican state senator falsely claimed COVID-19 vaccines are ineffective and called the idea of requiring them the “political belief of authoritarians who want to force their belief in… the hive-mindset,” just before the Iowa Senate Judiciary Committee approved a bill that bans COVID-19 vaccine requirements at schools, universities and child care facilities. Sen. Jason […]
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Surrounded by children, Gov. Reynolds signs bill banning transgender girls from playing girls sports in all Iowa schools
“Our state has an impressive legacy of advancing women’s equality,” Gov. Kim Reynolds said on Thursday, just before she signed into law a bill banning transgender girls and women from girls’ and women’s sports in Iowa schools, colleges and universities. HF 2416 restricts participation on all school or college girls sports teams and in all […]
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Judge strikes down Iowa’s ban on Medicaid covering gender-affirming medical procedures
In 2019, the Iowa Supreme Court struck down a state regulation prohibiting Medicaid from covering gender-affirming procedures deemed medically necessary, finding it violated the Iowa Civil Rights Act (ICRA). Republicans in the state legislature responded by passing a statute intended to amend the ICRA and make that sort of discrimination legal by prohibiting “any state […]
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Iowa Senate Republicans vote on party line to reject first set of redistricting maps
Republicans in the Iowa Senate rejected the first set of redistricting maps drawn up by the nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency (LSA) on Tuesday. The vote in the Senate broke down along party lines, with all 32 Republicans opposing the maps that reset the boundaries of the districts in the Iowa House and Senate, as well […]
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Secretary of Iowa Senate denies making threat over report on inadequate COVID measures at State Capitol Building
Charlie Smithson, the secretary of the Iowa Senate, complained to the administrator in charge of the Iowa Occupational Safety and Health Agency (IOSHA) about a “hazard alert letter” by agency inspectors criticizing how the Republican leaders who appointed Smithson failed to address COVID-19 concerns in the Iowa State Capitol Building, and suggested the letter might […]
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Iowa Senate Republicans advance bills to divert tax dollars from public to private schools, require 100% in-person instruction
Republicans in the Iowa Legislature are moving quickly to approve bills that would allow tax dollars that support public schools to be diverted to private schools, and further limit the control local school boards have over the schools in their districts. Gov. Kim Reynolds listed both actions as top priorities in her Condition of State […]
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Dix move: Disgraced ex-Iowa Senate Republican leader quietly gives the GOP his six-figure reelection fund
Former Iowa Senate Republican leader Bill Dix’s reelection campaign had collected more than half a million dollars in donations when Dix resigned from the Senate and quit politics in March following Iowa Starting Line’s publication of a video of the married politician kissing a lobbyist in a Des Moines bar. On Tuesday, Ryan Foley of […]
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Gov. Reynolds refuses to disclose records about her firing of the Iowa Finance Authority director
Gov. Kim Reynolds is refusing to explain what led her to fire the director of the Iowa Finance Authority (IFA) last month. When the governor’s office announced the firing of IFA Director Dave Jamison on Saturday, March 24, it issued a press release stating: “On Friday evening, the governor’s office was made aware of credible […]
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Iowa Senate aide who recently completed mandatory training on sexual harassment fired for sexual harassment
An Iowa Senate aide was fired last week for sexual harassment. Jake Dagel, a legislative clerk for Republican Senator Waylon Brown of St. Ansgar, recently completed the new, mandatory course on sexual harassment.
