Issue Position: Growing our Economy and Creating Jobs for Today and the Future

Issue Position

The economic recovery has not touched all families. For many, paychecks aren't going up, while the cost of groceries, prescription drugs, education, and other household expenses continue to rise. We need leaders in Washington that will invest in and do more to create the right jobs, with better pay and make sure Americans have the tools to succeed in a 21st Century economy.

I'm ready to do just that. Over the past decade, I have worked to create good-paying jobs in Minnesota, with responsibility for a workforce of 16,000 employees at a major Minnesota manufacturing company.

It's a mix of 21st century manufacturing and technical jobs, and small business entrepreneurship that we must continue to work to create in Minnesota. That means prioritizing investments in education and career skills, and reforming a system that too often benefits special interests, big corporations, and the wealthy.

To help the economy grow and families prosper, we must focus on supporting small businesses and entrepreneurship, invest in America, and invest in Americans.

Supporting small business growth and entrepreneurship
Washington should be in the business of rewarding entrepreneurship by making it easier for people to start and grow small businesses. Here's what we can do:

Make it easier to access capital and loans
Increase small businesses' access to technical resources and technology
Simplify regulations and taxes for companies with 20 or fewer employees
Increase tax deductions for start-up and healthcare costs
All of these measures will make it easier for America's innovators to start and grow their small businesses while continuing to grow our economy.

Investing in America
Congress must invest in infrastructure revitalization by rebuilding our roads, highways, and bridges and increasing access to high-speed Internet -- especially in rural areas. Not only will this create good-paying construction jobs in the short-term, experience has shown that public infrastructure investment stimulates private sector jobs growth. American workers need to have the right skills for the high-paying, high-growth technical jobs of the 21st century. We can make sure of this by investing in workforce development initiatives and encouraging public-private partnerships in higher education. When schools work with local employers to link training and education to the needs of the regional economy, students and employers win.

Our goal should to be for each student to receive the training necessary either through college, a technical degree, or apprenticeship program to be ready for a good-paying job. And we must be committed to continuous learning and job re-training as industries and technologies change. This requires a commitment to investing and encouraging partnerships between Minnesota companies and technical colleges.

Higher education and job training is only part of the equation. We must encourage companies to invest in their workforce by closing tax loopholes that move American jobs overseas, and replacing them with tax credits for companies that hire American. Let's reward those employers who create jobs in America.

Protecting America's Workers
Creating a good paying job for every American is only half the solution. We need to make sure that everyone can join the workforce and feel secure in their job. I'll fight to protect the rights of every worker to organize and collectively bargain. My wife and I have four sons and I saw how hard my mother worked to raise children on her own. We need a national paid family leave and earned sick and safe time policy. A lack of paid family leave disproportionately impacts women that have to care for family members and those with employers that don't provide maternity leave. We also have a child care availability and affordability crisis looming in many areas of this country and need to consider all possible solutions to addressing it. We need to continue our investment in an all of the above regional transportation strategy to make sure workers can get to their workplaces quickly and efficiently so they're more productive and can spend more time with their families.

In order to help stimulate private sector investment in infrastructure -- like machinery, buildings, and factories -- we must incentivize companies to bring their cash outside the United States back home. Billions of dollars in foreign earnings and capital are overseas -- let's make sure that money is invested in America.

We've got a lot of work to do in this country to upgrade our infrastructure, and I'll be a strong advocate for funding these projects. When it comes to approving projects, such as Enbridge, I've got a heck of a lot more trust in scientists who have spent their career studying these projects than I do in an approval process based on partisan politics.

Investing in Americans

American workers need to have the right skills for the high-paying, high-growth technical jobs of the 21st century. We can make sure of this by investing in workforce development initiatives and encouraging public-private partnerships in higher education. When schools work with local employers to link training and education to the needs of the regional economy, students and employers win.

Our goal should to be for each student to receive the training necessary either through college, a technical degree, or apprenticeship program to be ready for a good-paying job. And we must be committed to continuous learning and job re-training as industries and technologies change. This requires a commitment to investing and encouraging partnerships between Minnesota companies and technical colleges.

Higher education and job training is only part of the equation. We must encourage companies to invest in their workforce by closing tax loopholes that move American jobs overseas, and replacing them with tax credits for companies that hire American. Let's reward those employers who create jobs in America.

Protecting America's Workers
Creating a good paying job for every American is only half the solution. We need to make sure that everyone can join the workforce and feel secure in their job. I'll fight to protect the rights of every worker to organize and collectively bargain. My wife and I have four sons and I saw how hard my mother worked to raise children on her own. We need a national paid family leave and earned sick and safe time policy. A lack of paid family leave disproportionately impacts women that have to care for family members and those with employers that don't provide maternity leave. We also have a child care availability and affordability crisis looming in many areas of this country and need to consider all possible solutions to addressing it. We need to continue our investment in an all of the above regional transportation strategy to make sure workers can get to their workplaces quickly and efficiently so they're more productive and can spend more time with their families.

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