Let’s get America working again

Labor Day is a day we celebrate and honor the contributions of all hard working Americans to the prosperity and success of our great country. As you enjoy a day off and our families and loved ones gather around the grills here in Eastern Iowa, I'd like to share a few of my thoughts on work and workers in America today.

First of all, I have no doubt that American workers are the best in the world. We work hard to provide for our families and bring a strong American work ethic and ingenuity to each job we take on. Our workers have built America into the greatest country in the world, unleashed the greatest period of prosperity in history, and I'd put us up against anybody, anytime, and anywhere.

Second, I believe that work itself should be celebrated. As I travel the First District many Iowans are concerned that our society is beginning to devalue work and to treat work as something to be avoided. I believe working for a living gives us self esteem and dignity as humans and an opportunity to provide for ourselves and those we love. This is the American dream and if our country loses sight of that then we will have lost what made our country great.

Finally, we need to change public policy in this country to put Americans back to work and raise wages for our workers. Wages for many families have gone nowhere for decades, the labor force participation rate is at the lowest point since the 1970s, and a record amount of Americans are not working. When this recovery is compared to the average economic recovery since World War II, we are missing 12.1 million jobs and nearly $1,000 more in pay every month for the average family of four.

The solution is not complicated: we need to enact policies that allow our businesses to grow and hire more Americans at higher wages. Reform the corporate tax code and eliminate ALL corporate welfare and crony capitalism while lowering our highest in the world corporate tax rates. Job killing red tape needs to be reduced in a thoughtful way. We must reduce our debt which is stifling private sector investment. All American energy sources need to be fully developed. And lawsuit abuse reform will save consumers billions of dollars since all business costs are ultimately borne by the customer.

And we need to reform our welfare system to encourage more Americans to seek gainful employment. We need to restore the work requirements for welfare recipients, gradually phase out benefits when somebody finds a job - instead of cutting them off all at once - so they're truly better off with the job, and allow the states the flexibility to drug test able bodied beneficiaries (in fact - let's drug test Congress, too!). These are common sense reforms that will make sure our welfare system is truly helping Americans and valuing work.

Thank you taking the time to read my thoughts on this Labor Day. I am here to serve you, so whether you agree, disagree, or have ideas of your own to get America working again, please don't hesitate to reach out to me.

' Rep. Rod Blum (IA-01) is a Republican from Dubuque. Comments: www.Blum.House.gov