Governor Kim Reynolds will sign a bill this evening that’s designed to extend $1.36 billion in state tax incentives to a company that plans to build a steel mill in Iowa.

The plan easily called cleared the Iowa House Friday afternoon on a 75-17 vote. Representative Carter Nordman, a Republican from Dallas Center, said the project’s a game-changer for the state. “If fully operational, with this just this plant alone, Iowa would become the second-largest steel producing state in the nation,” Nordman said.

Representative Blaine Watkins is a Republican from Donnelson, about 23 miles from the site the company has picked to build the plant. “This project is just the beginning for the revitalization of southeast Iowa,” Watkins said.

Representative Matthew Rinker, a Republican from Burlington, suggested the plant could become the cornerstone of Iowa’s economy. “The opportunity in front of us today is nothing short of amazing,” Rinker said. “It’s not every day that I get an opportunity to come here and support something that is going to be transformative not only for the communities that I represent — and for the entire nation.”

Governor Reynolds called lawmakers back to Des Moines for a special session to seal the deal she had privately negotiated over the past several weeks with Essar Group, a company based in India that plans to build a steel-producing complex in Lee County.

A few Democrats have questioned whether the plant would ever be built and whether the company based in India had the financial wherewithal to build it. Representative Elinor Levin of Iowa City suggested President Trump’s announcement of the project on Monday was meant to boost the campaign of a Republican in a tight race for re-election. “Mesabi (Metallics) does not have the experience or the market capitalization to pull off this project,” Levin said. “…I come here during and I come when called for special session to try to do good things for Iowans, not to sign off on a campaign ad for Representative Miller-Meeks.”

Senators began debating the bill at around 6 p.m. and it passed on a 28 to 19 vote. Republican Senator Jeff Reichman guided the bill through debate. He’s from Montrose, about 20 miles from the site where the plant is expected to be built.

“This is a great win for Iowa. We hit it out of the park…This is a great day for southeast Iowa,” Reichman said.

Six of Governor Reynolds’ fellow Republicans in the Senate opposed the $1.36 billion in tax breaks. Senator Dan Dawson, a Republican from Council Bluffs who has led the Senate tax-writing committee, was a no. “Do I believe the Iowa taxpayer received the best deal in this proposition? Absolutely not,” Dawson said, who called the package “the largest corporate give-away in the history of the state of Iowa. I choose conservatism, not corporatism.”

Senator Jason Schultz, a Republican from Schleswig, said one of his top goals as a legislators has been to ensure tax policy benefits all Iowans and Schultz said he’s worried about paying for it. “My parallel concern…we’re transferring authority for the budget over to the executive branch. I am concerned about transferring budget authority…for a project that popped up.”

Senator Tony Bisignano, a Democrat from Des Moines, said he’d love to vote for a project that creates thousands of jobs, but there’s not yet enough basic information about the company and its plans. “I think this is half-baked,” Bisignano said. “This is rushed. This is premature, but here we are. Gotta have a vote today.”

The first public meeting focused on the project and the state incentives started late Friday morning. “The ripple effect will be felt for generations,” said Matt Morris, President of Connections Banks in Fort Madison. “Our Main Streets, schools, restaurants, contractors, municipalities — the list goes on. We’ll see benefits that are hard to imagine.”

Joe Taylor, the city administrator in Mount Pleasant, said the impact of the project is already being felt in his town, which is 35 miles away from the expected site of the steel mill. “I’ve been contacted since Tuesday by three different developers looking at opportunities for housing and infrastructure,” Taylor said. “…There are so many ripple effects that will put us on the map in a way that has never been the case before.”

Amy Moyner, Executive Director of Downtown Partners in Burlington, also touted the project. “When a small business owner hears 1700 permanent jobs with thousands of construction jobs, they hear more than numbers. They hear those footsteps coming through the doors,” she said. “They see their families buying homes, eating in our restaurants, shopping in our stores and enrolling in our schools.”

Senate Democratic Leader Janice Weiner said the legislature shouldn’t be tripping over itself to approve it today. “We’re here to approve a billion dollar corporate tax giveaway before we’ve appropriately vetting this company and its proposal and before Iowans have had their say,” Weiner said in remarks on the Senate floor earlier today.

The Indian company that plans to build the steel complex in Lee Colunty projects it would start operating in 2030. “Why is this being rushed before regular Iowans whose tax dollars will fly out the door to a foreign corporation have a chance to weigh in?” Weiner said. “…This does nothing to help Iowans who are hurting now.”

Jessica Mazour of the Sierra Club’s Iowa Chapter suggested there are too many unanswered questions about the plant. “How much water do they need? How much energy do they need? Are they going to use eminent domain for this project?” she asked this morning during the public hearing.

Another person who testified against the project said the India-based Essar Group that owns Mesbai Metallics has a record of failing to pay contractors and had to sell off major assets in 2017 to pay debts in order to emerge from bankruptcy.

At 6:45 p.m. a small group listening to senate debate on the House floor cheered as the bill clear the Senate. The Senate adjourned a couple of minutes later. The House followed at 6:53 p.m., then House Speaker Pat Grassley spoke with reporters, touting what he described as a “performance based” plan that will only pay the company if the steel mill is built.

“We’re not backing up the truck and dumping out a pile of cash,” Grassley said. “This has to be earned through performance of wherever this site and that’s really why this, I think, is a responsible way to do economic development.”