State of Iowa Archives: on Jobs

Zach Nunn: Pay discrimination threatens morale as well as society

• An equal pay task force is created. The task force shall study wage discrepancies within public and private employment and between public and private employers.
• The general assembly finds that the practice of discriminating against any employee because of the age, race, creed, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, religion, or disability of such employee by paying wages to such employee at a rate less than the rate paid to other employees does all of the following:
  • Unjustly discriminates against the person receiving the lesser rate.
  • Leads to low employee morale, high turnover, and frequent labor unrest.
  • Curtails employment opportunities, decreases employees' mobility, and increases labor costs.
  • Threatens the well-being of citizens of this state and adversely affects the general welfare.

Abby Finkenauer: Voted for the PRO (Protecting the Right to Organize) Act

Al Gore: Base farm policy, like hormones in livestock, on science

Al Sharpton: Need federal laws to protect workers, not state-by-state

SHARPTON: The first thing the president must do is have federal laws that protect workers. How did we get civil rights? How did we get gender rights? We stopped relying on states wit a states’ rights argument to do it state by state. If we had strong enforceable federal laws giving workers the right to organize, then we could go in Florida and other states and say they are in violation of the federal government and the federal law.

Al Sharpton: On picket lines & in jails for 35 years for workers rights

Al Sharpton: Institutional discrimination still hinders minorities

SHARPTON: We must be honest about discrimination and have a president that will enforce anti-discrimination laws. We still have institutional discrimination in this country, which is worse than blatant discrimination. What is hurting us is that 50 years ago, we had to watch out for people with white sheets. Now they have on pinstripe suits. They discriminate against our advancement and our achievement.

MOSELEY-BRAUN: I think the answer lies in providing capital for the development of jobs and businesses in communities where people live. Because if you give someone the ability to create a business, provide equity capital, give people the ability to begin to create those businesses that will help lift up communities, that will go a long way to solving the endemic problem of institutional racism, of discrimination and of the lack of jobs in African-American and Hispanic communities.

Al Sharpton: Create jobs that are necessary

A: I have proposed throughout this campaign a $250 billion five-year plan to create jobs that are necessary: infrastructure redevelopment, roadways, highways, bridges, tunnels, school buildings and -- in the name of homeland security -- ports. We ought to be investing in creating jobs. That’s what Roosevelt did with public works programs. Kucinich is right, we must go after A, what is necessary, and B, what will create jobs.

Alan Keyes: Family farms are nursery of moral character

Alan Keyes: Family farms: Decollectivize banks; withdraw from WTO

Andy McGuire: Dedicate resources to apprenticeships & job training

Andy McGuire: Raise the minimum wage to $15/hr

I support raising the minimum wage to $15.00/ hour across Iowa. And as counties vote for higher minimums those should stand as well.

Andy McGuire: Restoring collective bargaining for Iowa workers

Bernie Sanders: $15 minimum wage might lose some jobs, but it helps many

SANDERS: No public policy doesn't have negative consequences. But what you have right now are millions of Americans working two or three jobs because their wages that they are earning are just too low. It is not a radical idea to say that if somebody works 40 hours a week, that person should not be living in poverty. It is not a radical idea to say that a single mom should be earning enough money to take care of her kids.

Q: Are job losses an acceptable consequence?

SANDERS: Real unemployment in this country is 10% because the average worker in America doesn't have any disposable income. You have no disposable income when you are making $10 or $12 an hour. When we put money into the hands of working people, they're going to go out and buy goods, they're going to buy services and they're going to create jobs in doing that. That is the kind of economy I believe in: put money in the hands of working people.

Bill Bradley: Labor reform: Give teeth to pro-union laws

[I support] changing labor laws so that more people can succeed in their organizing efforts
• We need to put teeth in the law so that if somebody is fired for organizing, then that employer has to pay three times back wages, plus punitive damages
• You need a ban on striker replacement in this country
• Companies that violate the labor laws [should be] ineligible for government contracts in this country.

Bill Bradley: Supports unions for home-health & day-care workers

Bill Bradley: Increase minimum wage; universal health coverage

Bob Graham: We pay bonuses in suites & fire workers in basement

As president, I will invest in our people. As president, I will assure that we will not have the corporate greed which is paying bonuses in the suites while the workers are being fired in the basement.

Bob Krause: Increase minimum wage; increase union rights

We need:
• A livable minimum wage that tracks with the cost of living
• Better protection for union rights and the right to organize--both domestically and in existing international trade agreements
• National taxation and budget policies that favor the middle and working class
• Better protection for hours and conditions of employment--including better enforcement of wage theft laws
• Protection of safety-net programs that prevent Americans from falling into poverty. these include Social Security, ObamaCare, Medicare, Medicaid, SNAP and other similar programs
• An annual report to congress on the state of the middle class to focus emphasis on the issue.

Carly Fiorina: I will cut some jobs to save others, like I did at HP

Carol Moseley-Braun: Focus on troubled fundamentals despite good short-term trend

MOSELEY BRAUN: Unlike [the elder] George Bush, who said no new taxes, this Bush seems to think the answer is no new jobs. We need to create jobs in America again, and the way that we do it is to focus in on the fundamentals. While the short-term numbers look good-the stock market has gone up and the like-our fundamentals are really in trouble: huge current account deficits, huge budget deficits, a trade deficit with China alone of $100 billion. We are going to have to take steps to reverse those trends that are sinking our economy and sinking our ability to create jobs.

What would I do? First, health-care reform. That not only solves a social problem, but also a way to take the costs of health care off of the back of our productive sector, our manufacturers, our small businesses, so that we can create jobs here at home. Second, environmental protection. Creating whole new industries with technology transfer. That’s the direction in which I’d head.

Carol Moseley-Braun: Provide capital job development in minority communities

SHARPTON: We must be honest about discrimination and have a president that will enforce anti-discrimination laws. We still have institutional discrimination in this country, which is worse than blatant discrimination. What is hurting us is that 50 years ago, we had to watch out for people with white sheets. Now they have on pinstripe suits. They discriminate against our advancement and our achievement.

MOSELEY-BRAUN: I think the answer lies in providing capital for the development of jobs and businesses in communities where people live. Because if you give someone the ability to create a business, provide equity capital, give people the ability to begin to create those businesses that will help lift up communities, that will go a long way to solving the endemic problem of institutional racism, of discrimination and of the lack of jobs in African-American and Hispanic communities.

Carol Moseley-Braun: Fact Check: Claims Bush cost US 6M jobs - really only 3.2M

MOSELEY-BRAUN: [Bush is] the worst president on the economy, in terms of jobs, 6 million jobs lost.

FACTCHECK: Actually, the economy hasn’t lost anything close to 6 million jobs. As of the latest figures released last month, the economy had 2.3 million fewer total jobs in November than when Bush took office. Even at the worst of the job slump last July, the job loss was just 2.7 million. Note: Many Democrats like to cite the loss in private sector jobs, not total employment. Focusing only on private-sector jobs ignores the tens of thousands of new government workers hired-including teachers, policemen and federal airport security workers-and makes the job slump sound worse than it was. But even the loss of private-sector jobs under Bush now stands at 2.7 million according to most recent statistics. It did go to 3.2 million at the worst of the slump.

Cathy Glasson: High priority to making union access available to all

Cathy Glasson: Fight to raise minimum wage to $15 per hour

Chet Culver: No wage discrimination due to gender, race, or orientation

The practice of discriminating does all of the following:
1. Unjustly discriminates against the person receiving the lesser rate.
2. Leads to low employee morale, high turnover, and frequent labor unrest.
3. Discourages employees paid at lesser wage rates from training for higher level jobs.
4. Prevents optimum utilization of the state's available labor resources.

Legislative record:Bill Passed House, 87-7-6; Passed Senate, 32-18-0 Feb. 16, 2009; signed by Governor April 28; Sen. Hogg voted YEA

Chet Culver: End wage discrimination based on gender identity

• Wage discrimination includes discriminating against any employee because of age, race, creed, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, religion, or disability.
• Such wage discrimination unjustly discriminates against the person receiving the lesser rate; and leads to low employee morale, high turnover, and frequent labor unrest.
• It is the policy of this state to correct and, as rapidly as possible, to eliminate, such discriminatory wage practices.
• An employer who is paying discriminatory wages shall not remedy the violation by reducing the wage rate of other employees.

Legislative outcome: Passed Senate, 32-18, Feb. 16, 2009; Passed House, March 18; signed by Governor Chet Culver, April 28, 2009

Cindy Axne: Co-sponsored National Apprenticeship Act to expand programs

Cindy Axne: Close gender wage gap, challenge wage discrimination

Dan Quayle: End farm crisis by more exports & tax relief

Dennis Kucinich: Engrave into stone the rights of working people

• People have a right to a job.
• A right to a safe workplace.
• A right to decent wages and benefits.
• A right to organize and be represented.
• A right to grieve about working conditions.
• A right to strike.
• A right to fair compensation for injuries on the job.
• A right to sue if injured by negligent employers.
• A right to security of pension and retirement benefits.
• A right to participate in the political process.

Dennis Kucinich: Enshrine workers’ rights in a workers’ White House

As president, I’ll issue an executive order which will say that anyone who gets a federal contract will have to provide that when 50 percent of the workers sign up for a union, there’s an automatic union.

Dennis Kucinich: Joblessness is a weapon of mass destruction

Dick Gephardt: Represents hard-working labor union people

Dick Gephardt: Establish international minimum wage

GEPHARDT: Health care for everybody is the best way to stimulate this economy. To do it we’ve got to get rid of the Bush tax cuts. Secondly, a minimum-wage increase for the American people would be a great way to get this economy moving again. And finally, I’ll go to the WTO and ask for an international minimum wage. We’ve got a race to the bottom going on. Jobs are going from Mexico to China. It’s time to bring those jobs back here.

Dick Gephardt: Ask the WTO for an international minimum wage

A: My target would be zero. At the end of the Clinton administration we had unemployment in the country down to 3 percent. We did things that really got people to be employed. We increased the minimum wage, and that’s the first thing that I would do. I’d also ask the WTO for an international minimum wage. My health care plan would create 750,000 new jobs by getting everybody covered with health care insurance.

Dick Gephardt: AdWatch: claims Bush did worst on jobs-but Reagan did worse

ANALYSIS: Te economy shed just over 2.7 million payroll jobs in the current slump. But that’s 124,000 fewer jobs than were lost than between July, 1981 and December, 1982, when Ronald Reagan was President. And at that time the economy was much smaller. It now seems likely that Bush will end his term with the economy employing fewer payroll workers than when he took office. If that happens, Bush’s critics will be able to say correctly that he’s the first since Hoover to have ended an entire term with a net job loss. But it’s premature to say that now. Even Reagan’s bigger job loss was erased less than two years after growth resumed. And [it’s possible] that job gains in the next 12 months that would leave Bush with a net gain in jobs.

Eddie Mauro: Workers have right to unionize; update Labor Relations Act

Fred Hubbell: Believes in unions and equitable collective bargaining

Fred Hubbell: Raise minimum wage at state level; allow cities to raise too

Hubbell: Yes. Raise at state level, while allowing cities and communities to go higher as needed.

Reynolds: No. Supported bill keeping state minimum wage at $7.25 an hour and preventing counties and communities from raising it.

Gary Bauer: Family farms: Demand that Europe stop protecting theirs

George W. Bush: Family farms: Food for Peace instead of food as a weapon

Hillary Clinton: $12 minimum wage, indexed for the future

O'MALLEY: $10.10 was all I could get the state to do. But two of our counties actually went to $12.80 and their county executives would also tell you that it works.

CLINTON: I do take what Alan Krueger said seriously. He is the foremost expert in our country on the minimum wage, and what its effects are. That is why I support a $12 national federal minimum wage. But I do believe that is a minimum. And places like Seattle, like Los Angeles, like New York City, they can go higher. It's what happened in Governor O'Malley's state.

O'MALLEY: Didn't just happen. Yeah, but look. It should always be going up.

CLINTON: You would index it to the median wage, of course. Do the $12 and you would index it.

Howard Dean: Supports living wage via subsidies for kids & housing

Howard Dean: Support farming via family farms, not corporate farms

DEAN: The way to support American farmers is to change the American farm bill so that big corporations don't get the majority of the money that goes out of the farm bill. We can support small family farms, and we should. But the money ought to go to the farmers, not the big corporations.

Jake Porter: Oppose affirmative action

A: Strongly oppose. The state should protect people from discrimination in government employment and contracts. It should never favor one group over the others or make gender or race a condition of employment.

Jack Hatch: Raise the minimum wage & cut middle-class taxes

Hatch sought to criticize Branstad's administration over a recent revelation that some former state workers were given confidential settlement payments. He also promised to cut taxes for the middle class, raise the minimum wage and increase the state gas tax to fund infrastructure spending. "There needs to be new leadership and there needs to be a fresh start in education and job development and taking care of rural Iowa," Hatch said.

Branstad said he wanted to come up with a plan for repairing crumbling bridges and roads that didn't include raising the gas tax, which he said would hurt poor Iowans.

John Edwards: We need a president who's willing to say the word "union"

A: Well, first, we need a president of the United States who's actually willing to walk on the White House lawn and say the word "union." Second, we need a president of the United States who will explain to the American people that the union movement helped build the great middle class in the United States of America and they will be crucial to building the middle class and strengthening the middle class in the future. We have well over 50 million people in this country who would like to join a union. If we really want to strengthen and grow economic security, we must strengthen and grow the organized labor movement. In order to do that, we need to change the law. If you can join the Republican Party by signing your name to a card, every worker in America should be able to join a union by signing their name to a card.

John Kerry: Provide employment opportunities to minorities

A: The reason that exists is because we have an indifference, a casual indifference in the leadership of our country that ignores the fact that we have a separate and unequal school system in the US. We need a president who is going to fight against those special interests. We've got to change our attitude about how you raise kids in America, how you provide opportunity.

John McCain: Ethanol is not worth it, even in Iowa

John McCain: Family farms: Crop insurance; reduce inheritance tax

Joni Ernst: Top priority: Jobs and economy

"Jobs and economy," said State Senator Joni Ernst.

"Balancing the budget," answered former State Attorney Matt Whitaker.

"Grow the economy," said Dr. Sam Clovis.

With an ever growing list of Republican candidates the biggest challenge, right now, may be standing out in a crowded field. "I am a strong conservative and I have a proven record in the Iowa State Senate. Others may say that having a record is a good thing, but in this case I will gladly put up my conservative record," said Ernst.

"I am certainly not the status quo, and I won't rep

Joni Ernst: Raising the minimum wage would not improve the economy

Instead of responding directly, Ernst said Braley's proposal to raise the minimum wage would not improve the economy. She said her state Senate record shows the right way to boost the economy.

Joni Ernst: Maybe index minimum wage to GDP, but not same for all states

Joni Ernst: Co-sponsored National Right to Work Act

Joni Ernst: Yes. Co-sponsored National Right to Work Act bill.

Theresa Greenfield: No. Supports PRO Act, "which would strengthen workers' rights."

Joseph Lieberman: For counter-cyclical farm subsides, despite criticism abroad

LIEBERMAN: First, agriculture is a critical part of American economic life and American history. Second, the 2002 farm bill, which I supported, improved the previous program with a series of counter-cyclical subsidies that I think are appropriate. So right now I would say, no. It's very hypocritical when Europe criticizes us for our farm subsidies when, in fact, they have larger subsidies than we do.

Kim Reynolds: Voting NAY on ending gender identity wage discrimination

• Wage discrimination includes discriminating against any employee because of age, race, creed, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, religion, or disability.
• Such wage discrimination unjustly discriminates against the person receiving the lesser rate; and leads to low employee morale, high turnover, and frequent labor unrest.
• It is the policy of this state to correct and, as rapidly as possible, to eliminate, such discriminatory wage practices.
• An employer paying discriminatory wages shall not remedy the violation by reducing the wage rate of other employees.

Legislative outcome: Passed Senate, 32-18, Feb. 16, 2009; Sen. Kim Reynolds voted NAY; Passed House, March 18; signed by Governor, April 28

Kim Reynolds: Decide workforce training at local level with job creators

Kim Reynolds: Keep minimum wage at $7.25; don't allow cities to raise it

Hubbell: Yes. Raise at state level, while allowing cities and communities to go higher as needed.

Reynolds: No. Supported bill keeping state minimum wage at $7.25 an hour and preventing counties and communities from raising it.

Kim Reynolds: Double required job searches; drop federal benefits early

Kim Reynolds: Reduce unemployment benefits from six months to 16 weeks

Kimberly Graham: Equal pay for equal work

• Equal Pay for Equal Work
• $15/hr Minimum Wage
• Paid Parental Leave
• Universal Childcare

Marco Battaglia: Oppose affirmative action

A: People who are best suited for a job should be chosen to matter who they are as an individual. Companies with diverse workforces succeed. The incentive is there.

Martin O`Malley: Maryland was first state to pass a living wage of $10.10

O'MALLEY: This was not merely theory in Maryland. We actually did it. Not only were we the first state in the nation to pass a living wage. We were the first to pass a minimum wage.

Q: You're calling for a $15 an hour wage now but why did you stop at $10.10 in your state?

O'MALLEY: $10.10 was all I could get the state to do by the time I left in my last year. But two of our counties actually went to $12.80 and their county executives would also tell you that it works. The more our people earn, the more money they spend, and the more our whole economy grows. That's American capitalism.

Michael Franken: Endorses a federal ban on right to work laws

Mike also supports raising the federal minimum wage to transform it into a true living wage. Additionally, a universal guarantee of paid family leave will help working families and keep women in the workforce.

Michael Franken: Fairness means equal pay for equal work

Mitt Romney: FactCheck: Yes,US added 50M jobs since ‘78; but EU added 36M

That miraculous sounding statistic is way off. It has taken since the end of 1978 for total employment in the US to grow by 50 million jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But total employment for the 15 core members of the European Union (those who joined before 2004) grew by well over 33 million between 1978 and 2005.

Romney was misquoting an outdated and highly dubious figure, which was used by an author who no longer stands behind it. Romney cited a 2005 article in The American Enterprise magazine, which said, "Since the 1970s America has created some 57 million new jobs, compared to just 4 million in Europe (with most of those in government)." The article's author told FactCheck.org he wouldn't use the figure today.

Mitt Romney: The free economy means sometimes we lose jobs

A: Absolutely. Let me tell you how the real economy works. When I was at Bain Capital, we invested in about 100 different companies. Not all of them worked. I know there are some people in Washington that doesn't understand how the free economy works. They think if you invest in a business, it's always going to go well. And they don't always go well. In those 100 businesses we invested in, tens of thousands of jobs, net-net, were created. I understand how the economy works. And, by the way, as the governor of Massachusetts, when I came in, jobs were being lost. We turned that around. Our unemployment was below the federal level three of the four years I was in office.

Mitt Romney: Replace jobless benefits with unemployment savings accounts

A: Unemployment benefits, I think they've gone on a long, long time. But I would rather see a reform of our unemployment system, to allow people to have a personal account which they're able to draw from as opposed to having endless unemployment benefits. Let's reform the system, make the system work better by giving people responsibility for their own employment opportunities and having that account, rather than doling out year after year more money from an unemployment system.

Q: Would you sign a bill to extend unemployment insurance if you were president right now?

A: If I were president right now, I would go to Congress with a new system for unemployment, which would have specific accounts from which people could withdraw their own funds. And I would not put in place a continuation of the current plan

Nate Boulton: $15 minimum wage indexed to inflation

Nate Boulton: Equal pay for equal work

Orrin Hatch: Assist farmers in transition to free market

Orrin Hatch: Family farms: Crop insurance; no capital gains on land

Pat Murphy: Raised Iowa minimum wage to $7.25; now push for $10.10

Patty Judge: Take action to increase the minimum wage

Patty Judge: Raise minimum wage to $15 an hour, instead of tax breaks

Senator Grassley, she said, has supported tax breaks and loopholes for the wealthy and big corporations, including the Bush-era tax cuts for those at the top. Grassley has a history of supporting tax breaks to companies that ship jobs overseas, and has opposed bills aimed at protecting American jobs, Judge added.

Rather than more tax breaks, she notes in a TV ad, the special interests "need to pay their fair share, because Washington is giving those at the top too much and it's time someone stood up for the rest of us."

Patty Judge: Increase the federal minimum wage & all working wages

Patty Judge: The U.S. economy has recovered since the 2008 recession, however wages for working families remain stagnant. We have to increase wages and give working families a fair shot. To strengthen the economy, I support an increase to the federal minimum wage. We must also take action to end gender discrimination in pay once and for all.

Rick Perry: The official unemployment rate is massaged and doctored

Back in 2012, such conspiracy theories became known as unemployment or "BLS trutherism," in reference to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the division of the Labor Department that's responsible for producing the unemployment rate. After some surprisingly upbeat jobs reports that bolstered the campaign of President Barack Obama, skeptical conservatives either implied or said outright that the numbers couldn't be trusted.

As explained at the time, the BLS is devised in such a way that the White House cannot meddle in its math, be it a Democratic or Republican administration. [But BLS truthers compare the official jobless rate of] 5.6% to alternate BLS measures that include discouraged and involuntary part-time workers.

Rick Santorum: Take jobs back from China so US is #1 in manufacturing

Rob Hogg: No wage discrimination due to gender, race, or orientation

The practice of discriminating does all of the following:
1. Unjustly discriminates against the person receiving the lesser rate.
2. Leads to low employee morale, high turnover, and frequent labor unrest.
3. Discourages employees paid at lesser wage rates from training for higher level jobs.
4. Prevents optimum utilization of the state's available labor resources.

Legislative record:Bill Passed House, 87-7-6; Passed Senate, 32-18-0 Feb. 16, 2009; signed by Governor April 28; Sen. Hogg voted YEA

Rob Hogg: Pay discrimination threatens morale as well as society

Rob Hogg voted YEA on HF2459; Passed Senate 26-24-0, passed House 54-45-1, pending governor's signature 5/13.
• An equal pay task force is created. The task force shall study wage discrepancies within public and private employment and between public and private employers.
• The general assembly finds that the practice of discriminating against any employee because of the age, race, creed, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, religion, or disability of such employee by paying wages to such employee at a rate less than the rate paid to other employees does all of the following:
  • Unjustly discriminates against the person receiving the lesser rate.
  • Leads to low employee morale, high turnover, and frequent labor unrest.
  • Curtails employment opportunities, decreases employees' mobility, and increases labor costs.
  • Threatens the well-being of citizens of this state and adversely affects the general welfare.
  Source: Iowa legislative voting records for H.F.2459 Apr 19, 2016

  Roxanne Conlin: Small business tax credits to create jobs

  I opposed the bailouts for Wall Street. I will work to help small businesses, the backbone of our economy, through tax credits that create jobs. I will promote innovation and expansion. We need a senator who will fight for relief on Main Street, not more bailouts for Wall Street. Source: 2010 Senate campaign website, www.RoxanneForIowa, "Issues" Jul 20, 2010

  Scott Walker: Anti-state unions but pro-private unions

  Walker never told voters [during his election campaign] about what would become his signature accomplishment--repealing most collective bargaining for most public workers. During the uproar over that unexpected legislation known as Act 10, Walker said he wouldn't let legislation affecting private-sector workers reach his desk. Now he says he'll sign it.

  During the 2012 recall election pushed by public employee unions, Democrats repeatedly said that Walker would eventually take on private-sector unions as well. The governor dismissed that talk about right-to-work legislation as political spin. "It's not going to get to my desk," Walker said in May 2012. "I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure it isn't there because my focal point [is] private-sector unions have overwhelmingly come to the table to be my partner in economic development."

  When Senate Republicans committed to moving forward with the measure on Feb. 20, however, Walker quickly said he would sign it.

  Source: Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel on 2015 Iowa Freedom Summit Mar 2, 2015

  Steve Forbes: Farm crisis caused by federal policies

  America's farm economy is in serious trouble. Interest rates are too high, and while the Federal Reserve raises rates, commodity prices have plummeted. Agriculture is in crisis and deeply flawed government policies are the cause. Now is the time for change. We need to reduce interest rates, tear down trade barriers to open new markets, reduce taxes and regulations on farmers, investigate potential anti-competitive practices, and encourage the use of private crop insurance. The time to act is now. Source: Steve Forbes 2000 Online HQ, "Radio ad in Iowa" Aug 5, 1999

  Steve Forbes: Ethanol should be self-sufficient by 2007

  Q: Do you think that ethanol has had a fair test in the marketplace? A: I've supported having a few years of a fair test. In the year 2007, when this current program expires, if it can't stand on its own two feet, then it ought to go. What we have here is a bankruptcy of finding new uses for agricultural products. With a little investment in imagination we will find fantastic productive uses that will pay very rich dividends. So, yes, let ethanol have its run to 2007. If it doesn't work, cut it out. Source: Des Moines Iowa GOP Debate Dec 13, 1999

  Steve Forbes: Family farms: Lower interest rates; enforce anti-trust

  Q: Since the family farmer is self-employed, would you cap government agriculture benefits to a modest 1-family level? A: For the farmer there's several things that have to be done.
• Open up foreign markets
• Don't harm our existing foreign customers in the Pacific Rim & elsewhere with disastrous economic policies that have cost us $30 billion in farm exports
• Enforce anti-trust laws against vertical integration
• And the Federal Reserve has got to get off of this high interest rate kick.

Steve Forbes: Raise wages by allowing growth, not by fiat

Terry Branstad: Reduce burdensome regulation by public/private job team

[We'll] eliminate impediments to job growth. While tax policy can take us a significant way forward in our effort to compete for new jobs, much of that work can be undone by a bureaucracy that fails to understand the critical relationship between burdensome regulation and job creation. The rules and regulations identified throug this process will be the first subjected to our proposed rolling sunset and I will further order all future proposed rules and regulations to contain a jobs impact statement so we can identify those that cost jobs before they impact our Iowa employers.

Terry Branstad: Iowa Partnership for Economic Progress: investment for jobs

Perhaps the best example of our state's turnaround and of our policies working for middle-class families is seen in Lee County, which had the highest unemployment rate in the state when I took office in 2011. Iowans in Lee County are getting back to work, thanks in part to the largest on-shore purchase of wind turbines in history and a world-class fertilizer plant bringing much needed jobs and investment to the area.

Theresa Greenfield: Strengthen unions, they built the middle class

Theresa Greenfield: Supports a living wage; equal pay for equal work

Theresa Greenfield: Raise minimum wage to $15 over time

Theresa Greenfield: COVID: Expand benefits for laid-off workers

Theresa Greenfield: Politicians bailed out big corporate donors and opposed paid sick leave. Prioritize "urgent economic relief to working families and small businesses," not large companies. Expand benefits for laid-off workers.

Joni Ernst: Supports direct payments, tax credits for caregivers of adult dependents. Helped secure $383 million for Iowa hospitals and medical centers through CARES Act. Opposed paid sick leave.

Theresa Greenfield: Investment in ag research will improve crops and soils

I support encouraging regenerative agriculture practices like incentivizing cover crops and reducing tillage.

Kim Reynolds: We passed badly needed collective bargaining reform