It’s the middle of tax filing season. Right about now many people might question where their hard-earned money goes when it gets to Washington.
We live in a law-and-order society. We believe in the public good that comes from essential services financed by tax dollars. Among others, the list includes national security, strong military, medical research,...
The budget season tips off in advance of March madness when the president delivers his 2007 budget to Congress on the first Monday in February.
As a senior member of the Senate Budget Committee, I will help set the federal spending allowance that Congress uses to fund the federal government. Lawmakers will hammer out the nitty gritty details in the months...
Q: What’s in store for the federal budget?
A: It’s a New Year. Congress soon will get down to the business of drafting a new budget blueprint for the upcoming fiscal year. It would be nice if we could turn a new leaf in Washington. But year after year lawmakers lock horns over taxes and spending. After four years of budget surpluses, the federal government...
Q: Will Congress approve more money to replenish the federal home heating assistance program?
A: If I had my way in December, Congress would have approved an extra $2 billion for the federal Low Income Heating Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). Last summer I supported efforts during passage of the energy bill to authorize the biggest ever increase for...
Saving for retirement, especially for younger generations, too often doesn’t factor into monthly household budgets. Putting away that first dollar can be the hardest one to save.
Living paycheck-to-paycheck makes it difficult to carve out a portion of income for retirement. But considering the unbridled growth in health care costs, living standard...
As the U.S. economy nears the end of the fourth quarter, every taxpayer in America knows what comes next.
It means the first quarter of the New Year is just around the corner. As the holiday season draws to a close, the tax season begins.
During the first three months of the year, taxpayers across the country will clock many hours preparing their tax...
Q: Are tax changes in store for small businesses by year's end?
A: The U.S. Senate in November adopted a plan that recognizes the job-creating engine of the U.S. economy. Generating up to 80 percent of new jobs each year, small businesses are key to the nation's economic growth. Small businesses employ half of all private sector employees in the United...
In this season of thanksgiving, let us reflect upon and celebrate the service and sacrifice made by those who have served or currently serve our country in the U.S. Armed Forces.
Serving one’s country in the Armed Forces is an honorable way to respond to the privileges and responsibilities of American citizenship. In the last century, many of our own...
School children today likely have a hard time imagining the unimaginable. But just two generations ago, by custom and by law, American society dictated which public restroom, water fountain, swimming pool, restaurant or even bus seat could be used because of one's skin color.
Thanks to an act of defiance, indeed an illegal act of civil disobedience nearly 50...
Enjoy it while it lasts, but don't be fooled by stretches of warm, sunny days some people like to call Indian summer. That morning chill in the air soon will be here to stay. Before too long, Iowans will ring in another winter season. Ready or not here it comes.
Many Iowans enjoy the changing seasons. School children, especially, are known to wish for enough...
Iowans insured by Medicare will receive important information in the mail by mid-October from the federal government about the first-ever voluntary Medicare prescription drug benefit that will begin January 1, 2006.
Take the time to read through the handbook 'Medicare & You,' which will outline the drug-benefit plans available in your area. Ask a trusted...
The epic natural disaster that devastated America's Gulf Coast exposed vulnerability in the chains of command when it comes to the government's response to disaster preparedness and assistance. By all accounts, government at every level failed the victims of Hurricane Katrina in it its most basic covenant to the people: securing public safety after a...
An epidemic is defined as a rapid and extensive development of growth, usually of something unpleasant, among a group of people than would normally be expected.
Epidemic. That's certainly an accurate way to define what's been infiltrating communities across the country in the form of a highly addictive drug called methamphetamine.
In the last decade, the...
Q: What is the 'Ambassadors Tour' and why do you host it every other year?
A: During the farm crisis of the 1980s, I organized the first Ambassadors Tour as a way to showcase our state to the world and promote trade and greater overall economic collaboration between Iowa and other countries. That first tour in 1986 was a resounding success. This August 15 to...
For all the motorists, truckers and summer travelers out there who are fed up with feeling pinched at the pump, I've got some good news. Iowans in communities across the state soon will see their gas tax dollars put to work during their commutes to work, school and other daily affairs.
That's because a nearly two-year legislative stalemate that forced...
I know first hand the quality care and important services provided by our U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals in Iowa. The medical centers in Iowa City, Des Moines and Knoxville have given first rate care to Iowa soldiers throughout the 20th century and continue to today.
Unfortunately, the trip to these hospitals can be hundreds of miles for...
Each year we hear the dollar figure, and each year it grows. In 2004, our nation spent $1.8 trillion on health care, yes trillion. For that kind of money, you would think that the United States would be in the best shape healthwise in the world. But we’re not even close. According to the World Health Organization, the United States' health care system ranks...
Q: What is the Violence Against Women Act and what was it designed to do?
A: Unfortunately, stories of domestic abuse, assault and rape are all to common. There seem to be regular reports of women beaten in their own home, raped by a boyfriend or acquaintance, or stalked by an ex. To help prevent abuse and provide better care for victimized women, Congress...
Sitting in the driver's seat of the tax-writing U.S. Senate Finance Committee, I'm steering an effort in Washington to move America closer to energy independence.
As motorists across the country feel the pinch of $2-plus gas, I'm routing Congress towards a national energy plan that puts a premium on conservation, alternative motor fuels and vehicles, and...
Q: Why are you such a strong supporter of free trade?
A: Over and over again free and fair trade has proven to promote peace, cultivate democracy and help improve the economies of all the countries involved. Free trade is the only way developing economies will truly grow. We saw the danger and damage of protectionism during the Great Depression and World War...
