The Iowa legislative session is wrapping up and the senate passed bills that would effectively defund programs such as the Leopold Center at Iowa State University. Senate File 510 was approved Monday, and would eliminate the center, a resource for education and service for sustainable agriculture.

Senator Rich Taylor (D) was not in favor of cutting the Leopold program, and he describes the proposed solution Democrats made earlier this week, “Yesterday the Democrats, we offered an amendment that would allow the Iowa State University to use other fundings within their department to keep the department open. It is that important to them that they keep it open that they’re willing to find funds from other sources within their department, and the republicans refused that amendment to even allow them through their own means to keep that open. It wouldn’t affect our budget one penny. It’s just ridiculous.” The Iowa legislature gave final approval to the bill on Tuesday and has been sent to Governor Terry Branstad, who still could use veto power.