(Radio Iowa) – New members have taken their oaths of office and the 2023 Iowa General Assembly has started with typical fanfare. The partisan floor leaders in the Iowa House note it happened without the kind of drama that gripped the United States House last week. House Majority Leader Matt Windschitl, a Republican from Missouri Valley, is starting his 17th year in the Iowa legislature.

“We see the dysfunction of what happens in D.C. all the time,” Windschitl says. “…Iowans are sick of it. I’m sick of it. I look at what’s gone out there over the last five, 10 years and I’m just baffled of how they can’t get their ducks in a row to actually govern the way we do here in Iowa.” House Minority Leader Jennifer Konfrst, a Democrat from Missouri Valley, says voters want to see bipartisanship at the Iowa Capitol.

“Iowans are exhausted by politics as usual. Some of us might be, too. Let’s do things differently this year,” Konfrst says. “They want us to work together from beginning to end.” Speaker Pat Grassley, the top Republican in the House, says the G-O-P plans to cut property taxes and establish a new way for parents to use state money to cover private school tuition — and he suggests the debate about those ideas may be unpleasant at times.

“There’s going to be arguments and fighting, but I genuinely want you to know that I have an open office,” Grassley said, “more than happy to have any conversations.” Jack Whitver, the Republican leader in the Iowa Senate, says voters elected an historic super majority of 34 G-O-P senators for the first time in 50 years. “I think it’s safe to say that we are ready for bigger, bolder and better,” Whitver said. Whitver and newly-elected Senate President Amy Sinclair say the Senate G-O-P is ready to pass “school choice” — so parents can pick the educational setting that’s best for their child.

“This should not be exclusive to families with the financial means to pay for tuition or transportation,” Sinclair said, “or for those whose families can afford to move to a better zip code.” Senate Democratic Leader Zach Wahls says the 2023 legislature should instead turn its focus to the main dilemma Iowans see every day. “It’s been called a brain drain and a workforce crisis, but really this challenge is bigger than that,” Wahls says. “What we face is a people crisis, an exodus from the state of Iowa.”

The Iowa Republican Party hosted a fundraising breakfast two hours before the legislature began.