Tom Latham – Father, Grandfather, Farmer, Iowa Small Businessman – One of US!

Tom was born and raised in Alexander, Iowa, a town of 168 people in Franklin County. He and his wife Kathy raised their family just down the road from the family business and the family Century Farm. Tom is a proud farmer and former small business owner with his brothers of Latham Seeds, a soybean farming operation and facility that was founded by his late father Willard Latham in 1947 and is now being run by the third generation of the family – a true Iowa family business success story.

Tom is driven by the belief that Washington would work much better with a good dose of Iowa common sense. He strives every day to put people before politics and progress before partisanship.  While serving Iowans in Congress, Tom has earned a strong reputation of working with colleagues on both sides of the political aisle to achieve common-sense results.

Tom knows what it takes to make a payroll, grow a business and keep a farming operation productive because he has done it.  His number one priority is fighting for policies that promote job growth and a strong economy. Tom’s comprehensive regulation reform legislation eliminates outdated, costly regulations and makes Washington bureaucrats listen to the voices of the people, bringing certainty back to America’s workplace and opening the door for massive job creation.

Responsible and successful Iowa families, farmers and small businesses set a great example by operating within their means, and Tom believes we should expect and demand Washington to do the same.  Washington is in debt because it has a spending problem, not a taxing problem. Tom knows that taxes are a drag on our economy and that raising tax rates on hardworking American families, farmers and businesses, particularly during a recession, would be irresponsible and further stifle job creation and economic growth.  He consistently has fought for comprehensive tax reform that would simplify the tax code, lower tax rates for individuals, family farms and small businesses, and eliminate loopholes that allow corporations to avoid paying their fair share of income taxes.

He supports a Balanced Budget Amendment that takes away Washington’s blank-check mentality and he is known for cutting the spending he controls. Tom has authored bold legislation that identifies and targets government waste using the same methods that successful companies all over America to provide a savings of at least one in every four dollars currently spent by the federal government.

Generations of Americans rely on Social Security and Medicare as the foundation of their retirement planning and safety net. Tom has always voted to uphold Social Security and Medicare as contracts between Americans and the federal government that must be honored without question.  He has fought for solutions that would preserve, strengthen and improve these programs without cutting benefits by a single penny, raising payroll taxes, increasing the retirement age or privatizing the system. Tom is dedicated to making sure that these important programs are safe and accessible for current and near retirees and for many generations to come.

Healthcare decisions should always be between patients and their doctors and not decided by a faceless Washington bureaucrat. Tom has authored common-sense legislation that lowers insurance and health care costs for Iowans, expands their access to health care, protects patients through insurance reforms and removes government intrusion into our personal health care decisions. Tom’s work addresses the flaws and inadequacies in our health care system without destroying what works well, without increasing our deficits, and without resorting to the big-government approach at the heart of the nation’s new health care law.

Tom has been a champion on issues important to Iowa veterans. He wrote the law extending health care benefits to National Guard and Reserve members and their families regardless of their deployment status. He also wrote the law that overhauled the National Guard and Reserve retirement system, and is working hard to enact his bill to give veterans enrolled in the VA health care system the choice of receiving their VA funded care at their local hospital or physician’s office rather than having to travel long distances to a VA health facility to receive care.

Tom Latham spends every day working hard to improve the lives of Iowans and to protect the promise of the American Dream for our children and grandchildren.  He has an optimistic vision in the potential for a secure and bright future for every American at every stage of their life – from their youth through their retirement years.

Tom Latham – One of Us – Fighting for Us!