House Republicans met today for the first time since the election to hold elections on leadership positions within the caucus. After Tuesday’s historic election, Republicans now control the House 60 to 40.

Here are several articles that hit the press today:

Top Priority for House GOP: Cutting current state budget: RADIO IOWA

Paulsen will be House speaker, Upmeyer Majority Leader: REGISTER

Top priority is to cut several hundred million from Iowa budget, Republican leader says: REGISTER

First woman elected House Majority Leader: KCCI

Paulsen, Upmeyer to lead Republicans in Iowa House: KGAN

House Republican Leader Kraig Paulsen (R-Hiawatha) today requested that Gov. Chet Culver instruct department directors to freeze all discretionary spending.

Paulsen and House Republicans say the move is necessary to align ongoing expenditures with ongoing revenue. Currently, the governor’s budget uses over $700 million of one-time funds to cover the Fiscal Year 2011 general fund ongoing expenditures. By freezing state spending, House Republicans will be able to review all spending for the FY 2011 budget and identify specific spending reductions.

“Iowans elected us to be responsible with their tax dollars and reduce spending that was passed by the previous legislature,” said Paulsen. “We will waste no time in balancing the budget and reducing the size of government.”

Click to read the letter sent to Gov. Culver…

House Republican Leader Kraig Paulsen (R-Hiawatha) released the following statement today regarding new numbers released by the Revenue Estimating Conference (REC).

“114,000 Iowans are still looking for a job while Gov. Culver and legislative Democrats are celebrating that government has more money. This estimate indicates that there is more money for government and less for taxpayers.

“This changes nothing. Gov. Culver and Legislative Democrats spent too much, saved too little, raised property taxes and bonded our state into debt.”

House Republican Leader Kraig Paulsen (R-Hiawatha) released the following statement in response to Gov. Culver’s budget press conference:

“Gov. Culver has a history of reckless and irresponsible budgeting. He’s approved the largest budget in state history, he forced an increase in property taxes by over $500 million, and he’s left a budget shortfall of over $1 billion for next year, including $600 million in Medicaid. Not to mention the wasteful pork barrel projects he supported, taxpayer money spent on things like heated sidewalks and a train station to nowhere.

“Iowans expect commonsense budgeting from their government; not pork barrel projects, careless debt spending and tax increases.

“House Republicans offered over $600 million in budget savings ideas. We’re committed to bringing sensible budgeting back to state government.”

According to a recent report released by the state’s Medicaid forecasting group, Iowa will have to find ways to fill a $600 million gap to pay the state’s share of Medicaid next year. This is a direct result of the massive use, by Gov. Culver and legislative Democrats, of one-time funds to pay for the program this year.

“We warned people that the decisions being made by legislative Democrats and Gov. Culver were going to come back to haunt us,” said Rep. Dave Heaton (R-Mount Pleasant). “The Medicaid budget now has a Grand Canyon-sized hole.”

Continue reading for the details…

House Republican Leader Kraig Paulsen (R-Hiawatha) responded to a recent report produced by the governor’s office regarding the IJOBS program:

“The IJOBS program was created because Gov. Culver and legislative Democrats could not control their insatiable appetite for spending.

“Borrowing money for more than 20 years to pay for a snack bar and a marquee sign is poor money management. Bathroom doors and hand-dryers are not going to prevent future flooding issues. These things do not add up to commonsense budgeting practices that Iowans expect from their elected officials.

“The truth is, the governor and Democrats spent over $6 billion and when that wasn’t enough, they sent us into debt for another $1.7 billion. They spent too much, saved too little and irresponsibly saddled us with debt.”

Medicaid service providers across the state are asking why Gov. Culver chose to raise reimbursement rates for AFSCME union members while everyone else continues to provide services at a lower payment level. Legislative Republicans are pushing for answers from the governor and the state’s Medicaid agency.

“State government should not be in the business of picking winners and losers,” said Rep. Linda Upmeyer, Republican Whip. “In this case, if you happen to be an AFSCME member, you win. This kind of favoritism reeks of an election-year stunt and is not fair to many hard working Iowans across the state.”

Read on for the details…

Recent reports have shown that Gov. Chet Culver has failed to make key payments on his I-JOBS debt plan putting Iowa’s credit in danger.

To finance the governor’s spending plan, the state borrowed a total of $875 million with a total repayment cost of $1.667 billion. The bonds will not be repaid until 2033, with a $55 million repayment annually. Along with the annual bond repayment, the state must also contribute $47 million to a debt service reserve fund. This is essentially an insurance-type fund which is used if the state defaults on a payment. According to The Bond Buyer, a public finance newspaper, Gov. Culver failed to make that full payment.

“This is just another incident on the long list of failures that has come out of the governor’s office,” said House Republican Leader Kraig Paulsen (R-Hiawatha). “This time the governor’s mismanagement has landed Iowa on a negative CreditWatch list. This is not the kind of leadership we expect out of a governor.”

Continue reading…

Yesterday, Gov. Culver admitted that throughout his term as governor he has made mistakes.

“I appreciate Gov. Culver’s willingness to admit mistakes, we’ve all made some,” said House Republican Leader Kraig Paulsen (R-Hiawatha). “But he’s yet to acknowledge one of his biggest mistakes, increasing Iowans property taxes.”

Paulsen notes that the governor knowingly spent too much money in fiscal year 2010 which lead him to recklessly make a 10 percent across the board cut. Due to that mistake, property taxpayers were forced to pick up the tab to the tune of a $526.9 million increase.

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Yesterday Gov. Chet Culver committed the property taxpayer to another round of tax increases. He promised a 4 percent increase for fiscal year 2012 in allowable growth, the state aid provided to Iowa’s schools. According to the non-partisan Legislative Services Agency, Culver’s pledge would be roughly a $338 million increase in school spending authority. At a minimum, current law says $40 million would fall on the property tax payer.

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