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The Ecomony, Housing
and the Middle Class

Minnesotans believe in hard work, fair play and personal responsibility. I do too. Minnesota has always stood for opportunity through hard work. We believe that no matter where you come from, if you work hard you can achieve your dreams, you can give the uplifting gift of education to your children, you can take care of your parents and you can have security in your later years.

My grandpa was a miner, working 1,500 feet underground in the iron ore mines in northern Minnesota. He didn't graduate from high school, but he and my grandma saved money in a coffee can in the basement to send my dad to college. My mom was a second-grade teacher until she was 70. I grew up in a middle-class suburb, and I knew I'd always have to work hard to get where I wanted to go.

As I travel throughout Minnesota, I hear too often about how the American Dream no longer seems to be within reach for many working families.

Too many hard-working Minnesotans and Americans now struggle to make ends meet - squeezed by rising health care costs, soaring home mortgage payments, skyrocketing gas prices and mounting bills for child-care and college tuition - and, increasingly, the care of an aging parent.

Families confront these rising expenses even as jobs pay less, provide fewer benefits and offer less economic security. Studies show that in the last seven years the annual income of the average family has gone down by $1,000, but annual expenses for everything from utilities to insurance have gone up by $4,500 - taking a total bite out of the family checkbook of $5,500 every year.

I'm committed to making sure we have an economy that works for all Americans. This means having a strong economy and robust job creation, energy prices and housing costs that middle-class families can afford, and a federal budget that allocates the tax burden fairly and pays our way rather than piling up debt for future generations.

As Minnesota's United States Senator, I have worked to strengthen our economy on behalf of middle-class families by:

• Giving a lift to workers' paychecks. Americans' wages have been flat or falling for the last eight years, making it harder and harder for families to make ends meet. Last year we passed the first minimum-wage increase in a decade, which will restore Americans' purchasing power, give a boost to the economy and send a message that America values hard work.
• Bringing fiscal responsibility back to Washington. Washington has to get its priorities right and start living within its means. That is why I support pay-as-you-go rules and voted for the new Congress' 2008 budget plan. Pay-as-you-go rules helped produce budget surpluses and a prosperous economy in the 1990s and they can help bring fiscal discipline back to Washington now. When it came time to reform the Alternative Minimum Tax, a provision that is hitting more and more middle-class families, I voted to do it in a way that would have been fully paid-for. Opponents of our proposal were able to block that approach, but I will continue to fight to keep our budget on a responsible course.
• Reviving a weak economy. The American economy is currently experiencing a major slowdown. In response, Congress worked on a bipartisan basis -- and with record speed -- to pass an economic stimulus package. By spring 2008, families received rebate checks from the U.S. Treasury. This stimulus was designed to provide some modest short-term economic relief to families struggling with rising expenses.
• Promoting long-term economic growth and job creation. Long after the stimulus rebate checks have been spent, we will still need to promote economic growth and create jobs for the long run. We were able to add $35 billion to the Fiscal Year 2008 budget for long-term investments, including critical infrastructure projects that will create good jobs while addressing our country's pressing infrastructure needs.
• Addressing the Mortgage Foreclosure Crisis. I introduced the First Time Homebuyers' Tax Credit to help first-time buyers of moderate income buy their first homes. In addition to helping more families achieve the American Dream of home ownership, this legislation would help stabilize the housing market by providing some much-needed demand. I also supported the Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008, which would allow the Federal Housing Administration to refinance thousands of mortgages so that homeowners can keep their homes and pay off their mortgages and would provide additional funding for homeowner counseling programs to prevent foreclosures before they happen.

But we still have much to do to make sure that the economy works for middle-class Americans:

• Stimulate investment in the jobs of the future. I introduced legislation to encourage long-term investment in America's new energy economy - with new industries and new jobs based on renewable energy resources and energy-efficient technologies. The American Renewable Energy Act would extend and expand federal tax incentives that encourage the private sector to invest in wind power, solar energy and other forms of homegrown, renewable energy. I have seen first-hand how this can create good jobs - in the wind farms of southwestern Minnesota, for example - while also reducing our country's dependence on foreign oil. If we invest in our own farmers and workers, we have the resources and the ingenuity to achieve greater energy independence while also strengthening our economy.
• Make health care more affordable by cracking down on excessive costs. In order to make health care more affordable, we need to reduce administrative waste. By some estimates, as much as 40 percent of our health care dollar is being spent on paperwork and administration. That money should be going to medical care, not paper pushers. The health care industry needs uniform standards for electronic billing and electronic medical records. I cosponsored the Wired for Health Care Quality Act, which would facilitate the use of electronic health records. Greater use of electronic records will cut down on excessive administrative costs and reduce medical errors. This bill would also help create software standards allowing different hospitals and clinics to communicate with each other electronically, and it would provide financial assistance for wider implementation of health information technology networks.
• Provide relief from skyrocketing energy costs. Our country has seen an unprecedented run-up in fuel costs, as gasoline topped $4 per gallon in many places by early summer 2008. These rapidly rising fuel costs further squeeze already-tight family budgets. I have been working to make sure that energy markets are operating under fair rules and that out-of-control speculation is not driving up oil prices. I worked with my colleagues to press the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate fraud in the energy markets. But still more needs to be done to reduce rampant speculation in our energy markets. I have cosponsored legislation giving the Commodity Futures Trading Commission additional powers to crack down on excessive speculation. But in addition, we also need a bold, long-term energy policy that will reduce our dependence on foreign oil. This must include investing in homegrown fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel; expanding wind, solar and geothermal power; drawing on safe nuclear power to meet our electricity needs, and expanding production from available oil fields. We must also make new technologies, including hybrid cars, more affordable and accessible to American consumers.
• Ensure a strong economy by putting the government's fiscal house in order. The federal government needs to live within its means just as American families have to balance their household budgets. The current Administration has run up the federal debt for eight straight years, to the point where today 1 out of every 12 of our federal tax dollars goes simply to pay interest on the federal debt. In my first year, the Senate produced a pay-as-you go budget blueprint that governed most of our big spending decisions last year and can help return us to the budget discipline that produced balanced budgets in the 1990s.
• Address the burdens of middle-class families. In my first months as Senator, I sponsored the Middle Class Opportunity Act, which would increase tax credits for child and dependent care, help families pay for higher education, protect middle-class families from unfair tax increases and help families provide for aging parents. The Middle Class Opportunity Act remains one of my highest priorities in the Senate.
• Rebuild our nation's infrastructure. The collapse of the 35W bridge was a tragic reminder that we have failed to invest in the roads, bridges and other public infrastructure that keeps our citizens safe and our economy strong. We need to invest in 21st century infrastructure for a 21st century economy, including safe bridges, modern highways and forward-looking public transportation - investments that also create good jobs for the long term.
• Assist families in caring for seniors. Almost 10 million seniors today need some type of long-term care. While nursing homes and paid care providers serve our elderly in some situations, the vast majority of elder care comes from informal care givers - more than half of whom are adult children taking care of their parents. On the Joint Economic Committee, I have taken the lead on this critical issue. I have introduced the Americans Giving Care to Elders Act, which would establish a federal tax credit to assist with the costs of caring for an aging family member and would help expand programs such as the National Family Caregivers Support Program, which provide education, guidance and support to people taking care of loved ones with long-term care needs.