The session wrapped up in the early morning hours on Saturday, April 20 after several days of overtime. It was a session full of surprises and, frankly, too much politics.

When the session opened, House Democrats pledged to put people over politics and work together to improve the lives of Iowans. With Iowans so frustrated with politics these days, we offered bills that have strong support from a majority of Iowans in hopes of finding some common ground with the Governor and other lawmakers.

Throughout the session, we worked on plans to lower costs for everyday Iowans, invest in public schools, protect reproductive freedom, and legalize marijuana for adult recreational use. With so many Iowans struggling to pay the bills and make ends meet these days, we pushed for bills to raise wages, make childcare more affordable, reduce the sales tax, and provide more retirement security.

Unfortunately, not much progress on these priorities was made this session because the Governor and Republican leaders chose a different path: politics.

The issue that took lawmakers by surprise in the first week and took up most of the oxygen this session was the Governor’s plan on special education and mental health for kids. After shifting $300 million from public schools to private schools through vouchers last session, the Governor hired an out-of-state consultant last year who proposed eliminating mental health and special education services for kids through AEAs.

When Iowans learned local parents and educators were excluded from the conversation and the changes were going to take effect right away, they were furious and fought back. Initially, there was some resistance to the Governor’s plan from GOP lawmakers and they delayed the bill for several weeks.

Meanwhile, House Democrats listened to the thousands of Iowans who contacted us in opposition to the Governor’s idea. We then offered plans to invest in public schools, stop the Governor’s reckless plan, and make sure every kid gets a great education.

However, as the weeks carried on, the Governor ramped up pressure and demanded she get her way, just like she did with the contentious debate over vouchers. Instead of listening to Iowans, GOP legislative leaders pushed through her cuts to AEAs that ultimately will reduce special education and mental health services to Iowa kids. In the end, it was just all politics.

Reproductive freedom was again a topic of discussion this legislative session thanks to a cautionary tale from Alabama. In March, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that every fertilized egg frozen in an IVF lab was a person. The ruling immediately paused IVF treatments for some families while creating chaos for other families, providers, and fertility clinics. It sent shockwaves across the country, and here in Iowa.

Here in Iowa, a huge majority of people – regardless of political party – support reproductive freedom and believe everyone deserves the right to make their own healthcare decisions. And the news coming out of Alabama rightly made many Iowans concerned about protections for IVF here.

Instead of doing the right thing in response, GOP lawmakers did the bidding of the powerful special interest groups at the State Capitol. Republican lawmakers in the House voted to ban abortion, halt fertility treatments like IVF, and ban some forms of birth control.

Here’s the good news: Iowans saw right through the game being played for special interests. Republicans got caught playing politics and, ultimately, the Senate didn’t pass the bill. It was never about listening to Iowans, it was all politics.

There are honest policy differences between Republican and Democratic lawmakers at the State Capitol and that’s to be expected. But Iowans do expect us to listen to them and work together to get things done.

The deep sense of frustration Iowans have with politics these days goes well beyond basic policy differences. It’s when the will of the majority is continuously ignored and decisions that impact their lives are instead made for the special interests or political power.

The only way to fix it is to put people over politics.

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State Representative Jennifer Konfrst of Windsor Heights serves the 32nd District in the Iowa House and is the Iowa House Democratic Leader.