Loebsack asking to stay in during recess

CEDAR RAPIDS – It can't be the weather, but for a second time, 2

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District Rep. Dave Loebsack is asking the Speaker of the House to keep Congress in session through the August recess.

Despite an unusually hot summer in Iowa, an AccuWeather.com forecast suggests Loebsack would get a break from the Capitol's heat by returning to Iowa for the month-long recess designed to give lawmakers an opportunity to meet with their constituents.

In Iowa City, where the congressman has a home, the forecast is for 11 days with temperatures of at least 90 degrees.

In Washington, however, the forecast calls for 16 90-plus days.

Back in 2008, Loebsack asked Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi to stay in session to address flood relief for his Eastern Iowa district.

Now, the three-term Democrat is asking Republican Speaker John Boehner to stay in session to address the financial stability of the U.S. Postal Service.

In a July 31 letter to Boehner, Loebsack, who is seeking re-election, said the House should stay in session to take action before the USPS defaults on a payment to its Retiree Health Benefit Fund. The postal system will default on its retiree health care fund obligation Aug. 1 if the House doesn't act. The Senate has already acted on legislation to address this, as well as other short- and long-term needs of the Postal Service, Loebsack said.

His Republican challenger, John Archer of Bettendorf, stopped short of calling on Loebsack and his congressional colleagues to stay in session, but expressed frustration they would take a break without acting on several issues important to Iowans.

“Before your month long break you have the opportunity this week to give some certainty to our job creators by extending the middle class, small business tax cuts,” Archer said in a letter to the congressman.

If the tax cuts are not extended, the estate tax will increase, the tax rate for millions of Americans will increase, the marriage penalty will be reinstated and the child tax credit will be cut in half, Archer said.

Also, due to the House's inaction, the Farm Bill is set to expire and massive automatic cuts that will handicap our Department of Defense will be enacted, Archer wrote. Loebsack has been pressing for action on the 2012 Farm Bill and has led the entire Iowa congressional delegation in introducing legislation to extend agriculture disaster programs that were a part of the 2008 Farm Bill through 2012.

Archer went on to say that the cost of both higher education and healthcare continues to rise, “yet Congress is taking a recess.”

So Archer urged Loebsack to use this week “to provide Americans with some certainty about what our taxes will look like next year.”