Congressman David Young.

Congressman David Young.

Congressman David Young, a Republican from Van Meter, is touting the “bipartisan way” of resolving conflict over thorny public policy issues.

“You get things done when you work across the aisle. It doesn’t mean you have to give up your principles, your morals, your ethics,” Young said this morning. “Compromise doesn’t have to be a dirty thing if you come together and work on what is the right thing to do, regardless of who gets credit.”

Young said that’s how needed changes were made in the “No Child Left Behind” law and how a deal to distribute federal highway money was reached.

“We need a strategy to combat terrorism, plain and simple,” Young said, “and I’ll work with together with any president and anybody across the aisle or within my own party.”

Young spoke this morning on The Des Moines Register’s Soapbox at the Iowa State Fair.

Young is running for a second term in the U.S. House. He currently represents the 16 counties in southwest Iowa that make-up the third congressional district. It includes the cities of Council Bluffs and Des Moines.