Congressman-elect Blum’s schedule already busy

HIAWATHA - Rod Blum spent two years traveling around Iowa's 20-county 1st District calling on people in hopes of winning a seat in Congress.

He won, but he's still on the road. The difference is that now people are calling him for meetings.

'I think we have about 150 requests for meetings,” the Dubuque Republican, who takes office Jan. 6, said Tuesday afternoon before going into a meeting with his newly formed agriculture advisory council. Earlier, he met with the Small Business Administration and representatives of Northeast Iowa Community College.

'We're working our way through them.”

Blum, an entrepreneur who has worked on software and property development, admitted he's not an expert on agriculture issues.

'I've learned a lot in the past two years,” he said, but said the farmers and agribusiness people he met with at the Linn County Farm Bureau office will be able to keep him up-to-date on the impact of federal ag policy.

'I have to go in there and convince them I've castrated something,” he joked, referring to Senator-elect Joni Ernst's campaign ad based on her experience growing up on an Iowa farm.

Central City farmer Gordon Maxwell didn't have any advice on that, but said Blum and his colleagues are going to have to do something to lower the cost to the farm bill passed earlier this year.

'It's way too expensive,” he said about the crop insurance provisions that 'are an integral part of farming since they did away with direct payments.”

Nate Hofmann, who raises corn, beans, and cattle southeast of Cedar Rapids, would like to see Congress make permanent tax provisions regarding the expensing of machinery purchases. That would that help farmers weighing whether to buy a tractor, combine, or other high-ticket machinery, he said, and might help John Deere and other manufacturers sell equipment and rehire laid-off production workers.

Blum also has a veterans advisory council, another 'obviously important area.” He said the councils will serve as sounding boards for him and provide a way for him to communicate with constituents once he takes office in three weeks.

l Comments: (319) 398-8375; james.lynch@thegazette.com