After the disastrous collapse of the apartment building in Davenport, our Republican Governor whined that our state hadn’t the financial capacity to deal with this collapse and made a plea to Joe Biden for federal financial aid to help with the resulting mayhem.

Let’s look at past financial priorities set by this Republican Governor and party. It has been stated that Iowa has a multibillion-dollar state budget and on top of that, lawmakers recently approved a budget for 2024 that sets aside a $2 billion surplus. The total estimate given for covering all costs to tear down and dispose of the apartment building in Davenport has been quoted to run about $5 million, tops.

In turn, our government turned down a $3 million federal grant that would have helped Iowa create a climate change plan (apparently climate change is not a problem in IA). Recently, our state also turned down a $30 million grant requiring a $3 million match, that would have helped establish better child care for families, an issue badly needing addressed. We apparently also don’t have the money to extend the coverage under Medicare to pay for postpartum care for new mothers from 60 days to 12 months when 40 other states have. Neither can we adequately fund state universities, schools, hospitals and prison systems, provide a good mental health care system for our population, make laws that regulate our over-abundant and repulsive puppy mills, or even provide adequate funding for cleaning up our filthy water.

But of course, we can use our taxpayer money to provide grants for parents who want their children to attend costly private schools. And our government can spend time fighting a California law (not even Iowa’s) that requires purchased pork to come from captive pigs that at least have room to turn around.

It’s all about priorities.