House, Senate GOP agrees on budget plan, but no word on whether Senate will debate eminent domain bill

DES MOINES — Republicans in the Iowa House and Senate have agreed on a plan for next year’s state budget, but it’s still not known if a group of 12 Senate Republicans will block votes on budget bills later today unless there’s a vote on a House bill dealing with eminent domain.

Republican leadership in both chambers announced on Thursday the agreement on a $9.4 billion state budget, which requires withdrawing about $900 million from state reserves because state tax revenue is dropping as a result of tax cuts.

House Republicans did successfully push through their plan to include money in the budget to boost pay for paraeducators and nursing home employees, but they accepted an overall lower lever of spending that was closer to the initial offer from Senate Republicans.

Governor Reynolds in a statement says the deal puts taxpayers first and keeps the state on a fiscally sustainable path.

The Senate is scheduled to debate three budget-related bills today, but it’s not known if there will be a block on debating those bills after the threat from a group of a dozen Republicans last week, including Doug Campbell of Mason City and Dennis Guth of Klemme, that they won’t vote for any budget bill unless the vote on the House bill on blocking eminent domain for carbon capture pipelines takes place.