Priorities, top committee assignments for 2021
Iowa Senate Democratic Leader Zach Wahls today announced Senators who will lead the Democrats’ efforts on the various committees.
News releases
Unemployment rate much higher than Reynolds Administration estimate
When we include all the Iowans out of a job over the last year, Iowa’s actual unemployment rate is 10.3%, and the actual number of Iowans who have lost their jobs is approximately 180,000.
Trone Garriott elected in Senate District 22
Sarah Trone Garriott’s election to the Iowa State Senate has been confirmed by a recount in Senate District 22. She will represent Clive, Waukee, Windsor Heights and portions of West Des Moines.
Wahls elected Senate Democratic Leader
Democratic members of the Iowa Senate have elected Sen. Zach Wahls of Coralville to lead the Senate Democratic caucus. Also elected: Amanda Ragan of Mason City as Democratic Whip; and assistant leaders Nate Boulton of Des Moines, Bill Dotzler of Waterloo, Pam Jochum of Dubuque, Herman Quirmbach of Ames, and Jackie Smith of Sioux City.
Statement on Governor’s latest COVID steps
Governor Reynolds’ latest steps to fight COVID are like buying a smoke detector after your house is blazing out of control. If the Governor had listened from day one to health care experts – including the White House Coronavirus Task Force – more Iowans would be alive today and the Iowa economy would be rebounding.
The Truth about Iowa Unemployment
The headline today from the Reynolds administration of 4.7% unemployment in Iowa wildly underrepresents the dire current unemployment situation in Iowa. A truer unemployment number would be 12.3%.
Statement on Governor’s misuse of federal COVID funds
Instead of directing more money to testing and contact tracing, paid sick leave for essential workers, food assistance, childcare subsidies, additional money for rent assistance, unemployment insurance, utility assistance, providing PPE to healthcare workers and educators, and to help schools prepare for the winter season — and myriad of other uses — Governor Reynolds is using the CARES Act money as a means to fund pet projects and make Iowa’s budget appear flush with excess funds.
Investigation needed into misuse of federal COVID funds
Key Democratic legislators are calling for investigations into reports that Governor Reynolds diverted nearly $450,000 to pay her staff instead of using the funds for COVID-19 relief efforts.
“The time for half-hearted public relations gestures is over.”
Reynolds’ refusal to listen to medical experts has contributed to the spread of COVID-19, leading to increasing death and disease and making it harder to restart both Iowa’s economy and Iowa’s schools on a sustainable basis.
Iowa Senate Republicans failed to support bipartisan effort to restore voting rights
A permanent solution was blocked by Senate Republicans, who failed to amend the Iowa Constitution to allow more Iowans to vote. Sen. Brad Zaun, Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, waited until the 11th hour of the 2020 session to finally get it through the Judiciary Committee but there was no effort to bring it to a vote by the full Senate.