Iowa lawmakers headed back to Washington this week after a congressional break. Fourth-district congressman Tom Latham, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, says they’ll face a lot of work on the federal budget and some other big tasks. Maintaining agricultural research, a transportation bill, and an energy bill he says is important to Iowa. Latham says there’s a lot of work to do but he thinks they’ll get a lot done on a bipartisan basis. Among topics people wanted to talk with the congressman about during his time back in Iowa was Social Security, and the president’s bid to revamp the program. Latham says there’s concern over disrupting the system, but “there’s no problem” for people who are eligible to collect Social Security benefits now or will enter the system in the next few years. He says by the time his children or grandkids enter the system there will be a problem, and he says we may face raising taxes that go into the Social Security fund, raising the retirement age or cutting benefits, all, he says, “not good options.” Latham says we’ve got to look at it in a sober, bipartisan way, to make sure we can do for our kids and grandchildren what we’ve done for people in the system today.
