ICYMI: Des Moines Register: GOP-Dominated Session ‘Failed to Make Iowa Great Again’

Branstad-Reynolds admin and legislature focus on social issues, despite ‘dismal condition of the state’s economy’

The Des Moines Register editorial board sharply criticized GOP lawmakers this weekend for focusing on a trivial right-wing agenda while bigger problems persist.
With full GOP control of state government, the Branstad-Reynolds administration backed laws to limit abortion access, strip collective bargaining rights from public unions, and reverse local minimum wage increases.
Iowa has made national headlines for its historic rightward shift during the 2017 legislative session – a shift that Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds praised as “making Iowa an even greater place to live.”
Read the editorial below:
Editorial: Legislators failed to make Iowa great again
Des Moines Register
4/29/17
Depending on your political leanings, the 2017 legislative session was either an exercise in right-wing extremism or a long-overdue course correction for the state of Iowa.
Regardless of which camp you’re in, you have to acknowledge that what transpired in the Iowa Capitol over the past few months might only be prologue. This same group of lawmakers will reconvene in January 2018, and there are indications it will push even farther down this same path.
That in itself is cause for concern because lawmakers failed completely to address two major issues this year: tax reform and water quality. They did, however, spend an inordinate amount of time on the trivial while working furiously to fast-track some of the most surprising and controversial bills simply to minimize public input.
Is Iowa truly a better place to live now that legislators have legalized fireworks, given toddlers the right to bear arms, and allowed women to sue for emotional distress after having an abortion? … Read More here.