Senate GOP leader: Press, teachers have ‘sinister agenda’

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa’s Senate president opened the legislative session with an attack on the media and claims of a sinister agenda to normalize deviant behavior against children.

The Legislature is expected to focus on plans for tax cuts and reforms to unemployment law, but Republican Senate President Jake Chapman used his opening speech Monday to challenge lawmakers to take a stand. He argued there is a “sinister agenda occurring right before our eyes.”

Democratic leaders criticized the comments, calling them divisive and extreme political rhetoric that has made teachers, nurses and other people hesitant to work in the state.