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Latham proposal: no budget, no paychecks for congress

January 17, 2012 By

Republican Congressman Tom Latham is proposing that paychecks for congress stop if congress fails to pass a detailed federal budget plan. The partisan divide in congress has led to a series of “continuing resolutions” and stop-gap legislation to keep the government running.

Under Latham’s proposal, if there’s no budget plan, there’s no spending in congress. “Your staff doesn’t get paid. You don’t have expenses. You can’t fly home and hide out,” Latham says. “You’re actually going to have to stay in Washington and do the work you’re supposed to.”

Latham is sponsoring another bill to make changes in federal regulations. “First of all, review current regulations on the books to see which ones are working, which ones have a cost benefit to society and get rid of the ones that don’t,” Latham says.

Latham says some of the new regulations coming from the Obama Administration are a “wet blanket” on the economy. Latham wants a longer period of time between when rules are proposed and when they go into effect. “The agencies don’t disclose to the private sector exactly how they came to those conclusions,” Latham says, “and so we’ve got to have time for the private sector to look at it ’cause it has dramatic impact on job creators, as far as small businesses, any kind of business today and trying to invest and you don’t know. There’s so much uncertainty out there.”

The public comment period for most federal regulations is between 30 and 180 days after the proposed rule has been published in the Federal Register. Individuals or businesses which object to a rule also have the option of going to court and asking a judge to delay the rule while the judge reviews it.

Latham says any proposed regulation that would “cost” the economy more than $100-million should be submitted to congress so elected officials can vote on it. Regulations are the detailed rules by which federal agencies administer laws passed by congress.

By Ric Hanson, KJAN, Atlantic

Filed Under: News, Politics & Government Tagged With: ,

Latham introduces legislation banning “synthetic marijuana”

December 8, 2011 By

Legislation that would essentially ban the sale of “synthetic marijuana” has cleared the U.S. House. The measure, cosponsored by Iowa Congressman Tom Latham, would make it illegal to possess or sell substances such as K-2. The drugs are often labeled as bath salts or incense and can be found in convenience stores or so-called “head shops.”

Latham, a Republican from Ames, credited a family from Indianola for bringing the issue to light. In July 2010, 18-year-old David Rozga shot himself after smoking K-2. “In response to the tragedy, David’s parents Mike and Jan have led a campaign to outlaw synthetic drugs like K2,” Latham said.

Mike Rozga testified before a U.S. Senate panel about the dangers of K-2 earlier this year. The drug can lead to serious illness, extreme paranoia and thoughts of suicide. Latham said K-2 continues to be a serious problem in Iowa, despite the publicity and efforts to remove designer drugs from store shelves.

“In Polk County, three teens were involved in a high speed crash after smoking one of these substances,” Latham stated on the House floor. “In central Iowa, a teenage boy was hospitalized after taking synthetic drugs and becoming violently ill, having seizures, vomiting and hallucinations.”

The Synthetic Drug Control Act was approved in the House on a 317 to 98 vote. Companion legislation awaits action by the U.S. Senate.

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Iowa delegation reacts to super committee’s failure

November 22, 2011 By

The reaction from Iowa’s two U.S. Senators to the “super committee’s” failure illustrates the divisions that led to the impasse. Democratic Senator Tom Harkin says Republicans doomed the deficit reduction talks by rejecting all tax increases, and even calling for new tax cuts. Republican Senator Chuck Grassley says the focus needs to be on reducing spending.

“Too many people seem to think that tax increases are a solution to this problem, but tax increases aren’t a solution because the money from higher taxes doesn’t seem to get to be used to reduced the deficit,” Grassley says, citing a study from Ohio University. “For the last 65 years, every new dollar in new tax increases has resulted in congress spending not just that $1, but $1.17.”

Grassley says with or without an agreement, federal spending has to be reduced and that includes cuts in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Grassley also blasts President Obama for “blaming Republicans” for the super committee’s failure. ”But he doesn’t seem to engage or offer credible solutions for deficit reduction,” Grassley says.

From the other side of the partisan divide, Senator Harkin says Republicans “do not care about deficit reduction” and he says the only way to accomplish the goal is trhough “a fair mix of spending cuts and revenue increases.”

Congressman Steve King doubts the 25-percent across-the-board cuts that have been triggered will ever come to pass.

“We should remember that they don’t even start until the first day of January in 2013,” King says, “…after we have a presidential election, after a third of the members of the United States Senate are up for reelection and we have all the members of the house are up for reelection.”

Some members of congress are already talking about ways to act in 2012 to avoid the deep cuts to defense and other federal programs. King, though, suggests the decisions won’t come ’til 2013 — after the 2012 election results. 

“It’ll be a different congress and perhaps a different president that has time, then, to go in and change some of these mandatory cuts,” King says.

King made his comments during a meeting in Le Mars yesterday. Congressman Bruce Braley says, “partisan ideology is trumping common sense in Washington.” Congressman Tom Latham says Americans have a right to be frustrated by the “rampant dysfunction in Washington. Congressman Dave Loebsack says the super committee is another example of the kind of “brinksmanship” that led the country “to the edge” this summer when the government’s credit rating was downgraded.  Congressman Leonard Boswell calls it “shameful” that the super committee failed to broker a deal.

(Additional reporting by Dennis Morrice, KLEM, Le Mars)

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Grassley says trade agreements will create jobs

October 13, 2011 By

Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says the free trade agreements approved Wednesday with Columbia, Panama, and South Korea will help the U.S. economy. Grassley says the National Association of Manufacturers estimates the agreements will create 100,000 jobs, the president says it will create 255,000 jobs.

Whatever the number he says they are good-paying jobs as he says jobs in exports pay about 15% above the national average. Grassley and fellow Republican congressmen Steve King and Tom Latham voted for the agreements. Democrat Senator Tom Harkin and Democrat congressmen Leonard Boswell, Dave Loebsack and Bruce Braley voted against it.

Grassley says agriculture, and especially, Iowa agriculture should benefit from the passage of the trade bills. Grassley says pork producers say the agreements will increase the cost paid by $10 per head and he says the U.S. lost a lot of market share of grain sales to Columbia. He says other countries took the market away from us.

The Democrats in the Iowa delegation say they voted against the bill because it will cause us to lose jobs. Senator Harkin says the loss in jobs outweighs the increases in agricultural trade.

By Denis Morrice, KLEM, LeMars

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Iowa Republicans vote yes, Democrats no, on U.S. trade agreements

October 13, 2011 By

Iowa’s congressional delegation voted along party lines on the trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama that passed the U.S. House and Senate Wednesday. Republican Representatives Tom Latham and Steve King vote for the agreements along with Republican Senator Chuck Grassley.

Democrat Congressmen Dave Loebsack, Leonard Boswell and Bruce Braley voted “no”, as did Democrat Senator Tom Harkin. Harkin says all the estimates he has seen say the agreements will increase the trade deficit of America. “What is it we don’t get about our trade deficit,” Harkin asked.

He says the U.S. keeps making deals to “take away manufacturing jobs, increase our trade deficit” and increase the likelihood that we will borrow more money from China in the future. Harkin says the negative impacts of the agreements outweighed any increase in trade.

Harkin says the agreements will cost jobs in America, and he says it was a tough vote because the estimates say the agreements will increase agriculture exports. “And that’s beneficial obviously for the Midwest, but it’s going to decrease our manufacturing jobs in America, and that’s not good, you weigh those,” Harkin said.

Congressman Loebsack issued a statement saying,” at a time when our economy is struggling to recover, Congress should be focusing on creating jobs and promoting recovery, not threatening to ship Iowans’ jobs overseas.” And Boswell said the nation cannot allow trade agreements that only benefit big corporations at the expense of the working class.

“This shaky trade legislation is not a true job-creator,” Boswell said. “The reality is these deals put tens of thousands of jobs on the line during an especially difficult time for our country. Let us not forget the effects of previous trade agreements on our communities – the most vivid example being Newton when thousands of workers lost their jobs after the Maytag plant closure.”

Congressman Latham’s statement on the vote said: “Approval of these free trade agreements will create jobs across our state and open new markets for Iowa products and commodities. This is an important step in the right direction toward putting America back to work.”

Senator Grassley issued a statement that said in part: “Exports have an important part to play in the economic recovery effort. Private sector employers need an international trade agenda that opens new doors to sell U.S. agricultural goods, manufactured products and services. These votes in the Senate are a very important step in the right direction, but they were delayed unnecessarily for years, and the rest of the world is moving ahead without us.”

Congressman King had this to say about the agreements: “The Free Trade Agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama will provide a boost to Iowa’s economy by opening overseas markets to Iowa’s goods. “The benefits of increased trade with these countries will be particularly evident in Iowa’s agriculture sector, as these three FTA’s are expected to increase Iowa’s agriculture exports by $162 million a year and to create over 1,400 new agriculture related jobs in the state. I am pleased to support these important trade deals, and I look forward to Iowa receiving the economic benefits their enactment will provide.”

President Obama, a Democrat, supports the agreements.

(This story was updated at 11:33 to include comments from Congressman King)

Filed Under: Agriculture, Business, Politics & Government Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Iowa’s congressmen applaud strike that killed two al Qaida operatives

September 30, 2011 By

Iowa’s congressional delegation is praising the U.S. military operation which killed two al Qaida operatives in Yemen. 

Congressman Bruce Braley says the two “got what they deserved.”  Congressman Tom Latham, a Republican from Ames, says this is a major development in the war on terror.

“Al-Awiaki was a conspirator in charge of propaganda. He was in charge of recruiting terrorists to strike America,” Latham says. “Attempts in New York City, certainly down in Fort Hood — all those people were inspired by him.”

The military strike early this morning killed an American citizen who was editing an on-line magazine for terrorists as well as the 40-year-old American cleric who authorities say sent at least 20 emails to the man who killed 13 people during a shooting at Fort Hood. 

“Certainly this is not the end of al Qaida,” Latham says. “But it is a very important step in eliminating this threat to the United States and to the rest of the world.” 

Two other Iowa congressmen released written statements today. Congressman Leonard Boswell, a Democrat from Des Moines, said the incident shows “the battle against terrorism never ends and knows no borders.”  Boswell praised the men and women of the military and the U.S. intelligence community for their “never-ending persistence” in pursuing these terrorists. 

Congressman Dave Loebsack, a Democrat from Iowa City, also “applauded” the U.S. military and intelligence agenices. “The killing of Anwar al-Awlaki is a significant blow to al Qaeda in Yemen and the Arabian Peninsula, as he will no longer be able to target American citizens and our security interests around the globe,” said Loebsack. 

Congressman Steve King, a Republican from Kiron, is traveling and unavailable for comment.

Congressman Braley, a Democrat from Waterloo, spoke about the incident this morning during taping of IPTV’s “Iowa Press” program.

Filed Under: Military, Politics & Government Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Latham hears concerns about shut down at town hall meeting

September 27, 2011 By

Republican Congressman Tom Latham held a town-hall meeting in Waukee Monday afternoon, fielding questions and comments about topics like term limits and the prospect for a federal government shut-down. Kevin Brodbeck  of West Des Moines urged Latham to quit making spending concessions to Democrats and, instead, to “shut the dog-gone thing down.”

“We’re in this eternal loop of every two months, three months we’ll have the big broughaha, and someone’s holding up the budget for a mere couple billion here and the Democrats say, ‘We’ll pay for it later! We’ll pay for it later and we have to get this done.’ No, we don’t,” Brodbeck says.

“This country did very well for a couple hundred years without having all these payments and we’re quickly going down the route of Europe and the former communist countries. I’ve been there. It isn’t pretty.” Iowa National Guardsman Scott Schulte of Perry told Latham the threat of a government shut-down this past spring damaged morale among soldiers who were deployed in Afghanistan.

“Now the leadership, the military leadership, said, ‘Listen: everything’s good to go. We’re still in a war. Nothing stops because there’s no financing,’” Schulte said. “But the young people, it weighed on them because the young people don’t have a lot of assets to support their family while they’re deployed and this spooked a lot of the people.”

Latham says he understands why people are “angry” with the way Washington operates these days. “I feel the same way because it has become dysfunctional,” Latham says. “The people don’t want to work for solutions. The partisanship that has come along here in the past few years is just simply wrong. People are not working for the good of the American people. They’re working for their own reelection and it’s unfortunate.”

Latham says he’s holding five town hall meetings this week to give Iowans an opportunity to share their frustrations. Latham, who is moving from Ames to Clive, intends to seek reelection from Iowa’s new third congressional district and will likely face Democratic Congressman Leonard Boswell of Des Moines in 2012.

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