KMA Land - Young Dismayed Over Obama's Veto Threats

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By Mike Peterson

Politics aside, Iowa Congressman David Young calls attending President Obama's State of the Union address "humbling."

Tuesday night's address before a joint session of Congress was the first for the Van Meter Republican, who was elected to Iowa's 3rd Congressional District seat last November. Young described the experience in an interview during KMA's 7:35 newscast Wednesday morning.

"You really soak in the history of the moment," said Young, "and you look around, and you look at ordinary, average people who put their name on the line, and decided to run for Congress. And, you know, anybody can do it. I would just urge your listeners that if anybody out there is urging them to take a leadership role, don't laugh at them--put your foot forward.

"There's a lot of history, a lot of media fanfare," he said. "But, it was the president's night. And, I listened quite intently."

Young, however, says he's disappointed that the president is "doubling down" on veto threats. He believes the proposals in Obama's speech ran contrary to the message voters sent in the November elections, in which Republicans took over both sides of Congress.

"You know, looking at November 4th, and the election," Young said, "the American people spoke. It was a bit of a repudiation of President Obama's policies, and the American people said, 'work together, get things done.' We've passed some great bipartisan legislation already in Congress. The Keystone Pipeline is passed. We passed a bill to put a check on the administration--any administration--and their executive agencies, and rules and regulations, because they're such a burden on their daily lives. I'm thinking especially about the EPA."

Despite Obama's veto threat on the Keystone Pipeline XL project, Young believes it can be salvaged.

"He's indicated a veto," he said. "If he does that, we'll try to get the votes to override, because we think it's that important. And, we've got more supporters around in the 114th Congress than we had in the last Congress. It's good for energy security, the economy, and it helps to get energy independent, which is what we need. We need an all-of-the-above strategy. That includes Keystone. That includes renewables, as well."

Young also criticized the president's tax proposals. Obama is calling for tax breaks for the middle class, tax increases for the wealthiest Americans, and a closing of corporate tax loopholes. The congressman says Americans are already overtaxed.

"Quite frankly, we're broke," he said. "We're $18 billion in debt. And, we need to watch our fiscal house. Families do it, farmers do it, small businesses do it. They balance their budgets--we need to do that here.

"We have a tax bill," Young added. "We want to make sure the tax code is simplified, that there's certainty. You know, right now, there's a lot of folks out there with capital, in Iowa and across the country. They want to invest in this economy. But if they do not know the rules, it's hard to go forward. We want to make them understandable, so that we can get this economy roaring."

Young plans to travel to the U.S.-Mexican border this weekend to address immigration issues.

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