Providing Iowa students with a world-class education to prepare them for the future continues to be a priority of mine.  This week in the Iowa Senate we approved two bills to provide Iowa families with options to choose the education that fits their child. The first bill, Senate File 160, gives parents an option to send their children full-time to school safely. Students need to prepare for whatever lies ahead of them, to recover the ground they have lost over the last 9 months and to restore their future career opportunities. Getting children back in schools is not a one-sized-fits-all s ..read more

The recent confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett illustrates the importance of strong pro-life, pro-woman leadership in the U.S. Senate and reaffirms the stark contrast between Democrat Theresa Greenfield and Republican Joni Ernst. The first mother of school-aged children to serve on the Court, Barrett is a role model for women and girls everywhere. Ernst, a trailblazer herself as the first woman to represent Iowa in Congress and the first female combat veteran elected to the Senate, understands the significance of this milestone. As a member of the influential Judiciary Comm ..read more

Amy Barrett and I grew up together in New Orleans.  We attended the same Catholic high school.  We bought Roman Candy taffy from the local horse-drawn wagon on the corner of Walmsley and Pine.  We kicked off our black and white saddle oxfords to catch some rays during our lunch break.  We put on our makeup together before dances and celebrated with our friends at Mardi Gras balls.  She stood in my wedding and I stood in hers.  And as our families grew, we spent long evenings together at Christmastime over bowls of gumbo, enjoying that our children became friends t ..read more

Republicans in the 2nd Congressional District face an easy choice.  Although there are five candidates in the race, it is clear that the nominee will be either Mariannette Miller-Meeks, who was elected a state senator in 2018, or Bobby Schilling, who served as the U.S. Representative from the 17th District of Illinois (including Moline and Rock Island) for one term (2011-2013), and moved to LeClaire, Iowa, in 2017.  The eventual nominee will face Rita Hart, the former state senator who was chosen by Fred Hubbell to run for Lieutenant Governor in 2018. Since incumbent Dave Loebsack is ..read more

Iowa’s education system is strong. We have the highest average ACT scores, highest high school graduation rate, and highest concurrent enrollment in the United Sates. Beginning with Fiscal Year 2017, Senate Republicans made a commitment to our K-12 schools through increasing state funding by more than $300 million. More importantly, we kept that promise by fully funding our commitment to K-12 education. This year, we have proposed an additional $91.7 million in new funding showing our continued dedication to invest in Iowa students. Included in our current funding plan is $75.7 million increas ..read more

Shannon Latham, a Republican from Sheffield, announces she will run for Iowa House District 54 now that Speaker Linda Upmeyer will not seek re-election. “Speaker Upmeyer has served our district well, and she has been such a wonderful role model,” says Latham, whose interest in public service was sparked when she was a 4-H member in Butler County and attended Citizenship Washington Focus (CWF). “No one can step in and fill Speaker Upmeyer’s shoes, but it would be an honor to follow in her footsteps by serving North Central Iowans.” With a Master of Business Administration from the University of ..read more

Good morning Mister President, Minority Leader Petersen, and my colleagues in the Senate. It is exciting to be back and ready to work for another legislative session. This will be my second full session as the majority leader in this chamber, and I can’t tell you how proud I am of the members we have here and what we have accomplished so far, with more exciting changes to come. It truly is a great time to be an Iowan. Iowa has more job openings right now than unemployed people to fill them. One of our challenges as legislators is to help people get the right skills to fill those jobs, with t ..read more

Ladies and gentlemen of the House, thank you all for being here today. It is such an incredible honor and privilege to be up here today and I am truly humbled to serve as your Speaker in this historic chamber. Before I go any further, there are some special people that I need to express my appreciation for. Amanda, Indee, Reagan, and Chancellor… It means a lot to have you all here today. I want to thank each of you for the sacrifices that you make that allow me to serve the people of Iowa and House District 50. I also want to thank the House Republican majority for putting your faith in me to ..read more

The quadrennial tradition of everyone in politics becoming an expert on the Iowa Caucus has begun.  Anyone with a twitter account seems to know everything about anything to do with the first-in-the-nation caucus state, with the latest fixation declaring who will surprise and be the “Democrats’ Rick Santorum.”  But before we start making this comparison, a history lesson is in order. Despite being a former congressman and former member of the U.S. Senate leadership from one of the most coveted swing-state electoral prizes, Santorum was a footnote in political stories when he announced his 2012 ..read more

The Republican Party of Iowa held its annual Lincoln-Reagan Dinner last Friday (8 November) in the Downtown Marriott Ballroom in Des Moines.  The event was attended by about 550 people and the special guest, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), remarked on how crowded the room was; the master of ceremonies, Chairman Jeff Kaufmann, was his usual ebullient self, and Sen. Graham also took notice of how “enthusiastic” he was. Sen. Chuck Grassley began his remarks by stating that he was proud of his grandson, Pat Grassley, a state representative since 2007 who is now Speaker-select of the Iowa House.  He re ..read more