Week four of the Iowa Legislature is moving nicely. Subcommittees are meeting and vetting bills to filter what makes it to committee. Full committees have been considering bills, tabling some and passing others that provide a positive impact for Iowa. The Senate started floor action on Thursday, February 6.
The news of the week was clearly the president’s State of the Union address. Never before has a president made such a clear and definitive agenda of putting America – and Americans – first. There were no subtle hints or quibbling lines. Every position was black and white. The reason I report on this national event is that it parallels the agenda of the Iowa Legislature, especially the Iowa Senate.
President Trump expressed strong support for the pro-life movement. The current Republican-controlled legislature and governor are the most pro-life government Iowa may have ever had. We will be working on passing the abortion neutrality amendment to work to correct an imaginative court ruling from 2018. This follows a few years of successful pro-life legislation being set aside by courts.
Our Second Amendment firearms rights were proclaimed from the US House podium Tuesday night, and cheered by a pro-freedom Iowa Legislature. We have restored many of those rights that had eroded away over the past decades. My newsletter of a couple weeks ago covered this subject.
The tax cuts lauded by the president for spurring the national economy were matched in Iowa in order to conform to the changes and also cut our own income tax. Iowa is experiencing an economic expansion due to these changes. If the president wants to go farther, we are ready to match him for the benefit of Iowans.
But the strongest message of the night was simply one of right and wrong. A sense that we have a president who cares about the people of America and not just its largest institutions. The themes of the speech were specifically aimed at those who walk our concrete sidewalks and gravel roads instead of those who walk the polished marble hallways of D.C, New York, or Los Angeles. He was talking to us. He spoke to the parents who are worried about their children’s education, the spouse of those service members deployed, and the law enforcement officer defending America’s border. We as Americans and Iowans face these issues every day, and I am guessing most of us have been waiting for someone to address these problems in the way President Trump is leading us.
Your Iowa Senate is dealing with these same issues in education, veterans’ issues, and illegal alien sanctuary cities. In 2016 Iowans chose both President Trump and Senate Republicans to fight for them. We gained the majority and President Trump took the Oath of Office in January 2017. Since then, we have matched the President in boldness and action. We have made Iowa a leading state in fiscal responsibility, firearms rights, life, taxpayer protection and business climate. Iowa still has challenges to face, just as does our country. But I like who we have working for us at the White House and in the State Capitol of Iowa. During the State of the Union, I was a proud American, and I hope you were as well.
Author: Jason Schultz
State Sen. Jason Schultz served three terms in the House prior to being elected to the Iowa Senate. Schultz served seven years in the National Guard and served as volunteer fire fighter for the Schleswig Volunteer FD for 13 years, two years as the department's chief.
