Day 11

0800 - 2230.

Today was an extremely busy day, people- and bill-wise. In the morning, we had breakfast offered by the AARP. Apparently, there was two other breakfasts as well that I missed. TeenPact was back again. We had lunch offered by a retirement community - it was lasagna and garlic bread, the best free lunch I've had yet. Representative Clute's son had his first birthday, so we had cake. An organization of women voters showed up, as well as Just Eliminate Lies (JEL), the anti-smoking group. The Iowa Library Association provided an afternoon snack, with meatballs, smokies, fruit, and cookies. Apparently Washington was represented, although I never saw my boss. Another afternoon snack was served by the American Heart Association "sweethearts," who were, coincidentally, attractive college girls. The AHA snack was quite healthy, thankfully. We saw teens from the Capitol Project '07, which apparently volunteers at the Capitol. Since we went into the evening, I got a piece of excellent cake from the SAA, as well as Happy Joe's pizza left over by the reps. A good day for free stuff.

An appropriations bill for certain state organizations [H.F. 874] was discussed today. Various Republican amendments lost party-line votes, and the bill passed, 52-45. Other business was slim, amidst committee meetings, until the big bill of the evening - H.F. 877, a "statewide voluntary preschool program" for four-year-olds. The biggest opposition to this bill was that it would give public schools an unfair advantage for preschooling, as it provides a teacher for up to 10 hrs a week for every school that wishes to take advantage of the offer. The other opposition was that it would cost upwards of $109 million in 2014, as defined by the bill. Once again, numerous Republican amendments were voted down, although there was a brief flash of humor. Minority Leader Rants asked if Rep. Mascher (D, Johnson) would yield to a question. However, since Rep. Mascher sits one seat to the left, he said, "Would my colleague to the left yield to a question?" Speaker Murphy dryly asked, "Physically or politically?" That was quite amusing. Anyways, the bill passed the House 53-43, and was sent to the Senate. The House adjourned at 11:30 PM, and got ready for the next day.