Growing up the son of a John Deere Farm Implement Dealership owner I learned the importance of sound agricultural policy. We need government policies that open up the playing field, so Iowa farmers can better compete in the national and international markets. It is unrealistic that American farmers face high tariffs when exporting their products to foreign countries while those same countries can import their goods to the United States tariff-free. I will work hard in Congress to enact policies that strengthen Iowa’s farmers and keep them strong.

In addition, I fully support a complete and total permanent repeal of the “Death Tax.” It’s wrong to punish someone’s lifetime of hard work by another onerous tax.

At the same time, I vigorously oppose the unsound, unfair and unrealistic limitations and taxation imposed by special interest groups whose unfounded scientific claims are used for the basis of the largest tax increase in the history of the world. The implications of this reckless school of thought will insufferably increase the tax burden most heavily on Iowa’s farmers. Fuel, fertilizer, utilities, and all aspects of farm operating costs will be taxed out of reach. It will be the end of family farming as we know it. Only the large corporate owned farms could possibly bear the burden of cap and trade.

The federal government spends more than 7.6 million dollars per minute of every hour of every day. That’s $10.9 billion per day, $456.6 million per hour, or $126,839.00 per second! This out of control spending obligates every person in America $13,072.00 or every tax payer $74,074.00! I believe it is the responsibility of Congress to fix this horrendous problem. If federal spending is not reigned in, we will find ourselves in unprecedented financial crisis by the time the majority of Baby Boomers reach retirement age, and we will be challenged with the tens of trillions of dollars in unfunded liabilities their future benefits represent.

I support giving the president a line item veto as well as an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that requires a balanced federal budget in peacetime, unless a three-fifths majority of both Houses of Congress vote to approve a specified amount of deficit spending.

A strong, well-trained, well-armed and well-funded national defense is vital to the long-term security and stability of our nation. We must continue to invest in cutting edge technologies that will preserve our military superiority and act as a deterrent against rogue states that would seek to do us and our allies harm.

Continuing our fight against international terrorism is also vital to long term security and stability. We must remain steadfast in getting the job done in Iraq and Afghanistan, supporting our troops and their families, giving them the tools they need to accomplish their missions, and working to equip local governments with the training and know how they need to reunify and rebuild their own countries.

Instructing, equipping and empowering our children is vital to our nation’s continued prosperity and economic strength during this time of increasing competition in business and trade abroad. Successful education policy affirms what begins in the home. Local school boards along with state governments are best positioned to handle education policy rather than federal beaucrats.

The United States is much too dependent on foreign energy, especially Middle Eastern oil. Having suffered years of record high gas prices, Americans deserve greater freedom from Middle Eastern manipulation of the petroleum markets. We must increase domestic oil and gas supply by exploring and utilizing more of the energy resources we have at home.

We must also help keep our nation on the cutting edge by exploring alternative sources of energy and better ways to make use of them; including nuclear, wind, solar and other alternative energies. At the same time, we must be careful stewards of all of our precious natural resources by always avoiding strategies which unnecessarily damage our landscape or environment or pose health risks to our citizens.

Most Iowans agree, the federal government spends far too much and is overly large, cumbersome, intrusive, unresponsive, bureaucratic and ineffective. Too many of the roles currently filled by government agencies would be better left to individuals, private businesses and not-for-profit organizations. I take my government oversight experience very seriously. The record of having created a more effective city government as Mayor of Urbandale by lowering taxes, improving city amenities and bringing job growth is the same thing I will work for every day in Congress.

Above all else we need to get health care reform done right, not done fast. Passing another two thousand page bill cloaked in secrecy and without debate will do nothing to help the economy, create jobs or reform health care. The two thousand page health care bill could cost tax payers about a billion dollars per page and will only impose new taxes on individuals and businesses. It will force Americans from private health care into a government run system which will put Washington bureaucrats in charge of rationing health care. This government takeover would add more than $2.3 trillion dollars of deficit over ten years, pushing our already unstable finances further toward bankruptcy.

We need health care reform which puts medical decisions in the hands of doctors and their patients, not government bureaucrats. We need to make high quality care more affordable. To do so I will work hard to push for expanding options that include opening state borders to permit insurance companies to underwrite across state lines to increase competition, enforcing tort reform, and enacting ‘loser pay’ provisions and health care savings accounts. These four things would allow individuals and families to buy insurance coverage with the same advantages given to businesses. I will also strive to continue to listen to families, business owners, and health care professionals across our district for additional ways to reform our health care system.

I am steadfastly against illegal immigration and against amnesty for illegal immigrants. To deal with the growing problems this issue creates I will work hard in Congress for the security of our borders, effective and efficient enforcement of our current immigration laws and fix the system so it works for those who want to come to our country legally: by working hard, learning the language and becoming American citizens.

Our country has always been a nation of immigrants. In large part, this is what has made us great; however, illegal immigration is unfair and unjust to the many people from around the world who want to come to the United States legally, as well as being a very serious threat to our homeland security.

I have always been and will always be pro-life. I will do everything I can to defend the sanctity of life from conception to natural death. I believe and am committed to the view that life is sacred, begins at conception and that the Founding Fathers were correct in placing it among the rights the Constitution was created to defend.

In addition, I am equally committed to defending the sanctity of marriage and family. Our families are the foundation of our society, and America is only as strong as our families are sound. I do and will continue to oppose all attempts to redefine marriage as anything other than the sacred bond between one woman and one man.

I am committed to the ideas that the hard-working families of Iowa know best how to spend their own money and that more of it should remain in their own pockets! Lower taxes foster a healthier economy across the board.

By encouraging entrepreneurship, job creation and improving the international competitiveness of our nation’s business the economy will grow. I will work hard to expand tax cuts and stand adamantly against the return of the marriage penalty, the halving of the child tax credit or the continuation of the death tax. I will also support phasing out the oppressive Alternative Minimum Tax and reforming our tax code to make it more manageable and understandable to all Americans.

While it is important to support our troops in the field it is equally important to support them when they return to civilian life. These brave men and women have risked their lives and livelihoods to serve and defend us, and we owe them our very best. Our veterans deserve excellent benefits and the best health care that we can give them - most importantly when they return home wounded. For this reason I will work hard to create, secure, expand and protect our nation’s veterans' benefits.