2015 by the Numbers - Looking Forward to a Productive New Year

Congressman David Young’s Capitol Solutions

Weekly Report to Iowa’s Hardworking Taxpayers

EDITORS NOTE: I look forward to providing this report each week as a resource of information for Iowans on the issues being debated and discussed in my goal to be the most accessible member of congress possible.

2015 by the Numbers - Looking Forward to a Productive New Year 

This week marks one year since I was sworn in as your U.S. Representative for Iowa’s Third Congressional District. With priorities in mind to make your federal government more efficient, accessible, accountable and transparent, I came to Congress humbled to be your voice in Washington, and to make the hard choices that deliver real results.

The House convened last January for the First Session of the 114th Congress to do the people’s work. In that time, Congress passed 42 bills signed into law, including several pieces of commonsense and effective solutions to address the issues and concerns Americans face. 

In March, Congress passed legislation to strengthen Medicare and put it on more sound financial footing by modernizing the physician payment system. This ended a more than decade-long cycle of passing stop-gap measures that threatened seniors’ access to healthcare. 

We passed the Every Student Succeeds Act, to repeal the failed No Child Left Behind law to take the federal government's hands out of local education and put it back into the hands of those who know our students best - parents, our school districts, and local educators in southwest Iowa.

And for the first time in nearly a decade, Congress passed a long-term highway funding bill to keep our roads, bridges and other transportation infrastructure safe and secure.

I was proud to support each of these bills when they passed Congress with overwhelming bipartisan majorities. These accomplishments show that when legislators are willing to put aside petty politics, they can deliver results for American families. 

This past year as your Representative, I have also wasted no time keeping Iowans up to date and address the issues you care about most. 

It is my goal to remain as accessible, accountable and responsive as possible. In 2015, I engaged over 244,000 Iowans by answering their letters, calls and emails with questions and comments while also updating folks in Iowa about what’s going on in Washington or inviting them to the many meetings I hosted.  

I started an e-newsletter to keep you informed of my efforts for our District, the happenings in Congress and in Iowa. Last year, 5,504,381 e-newsletters were sent to Iowans who subscribed. To sign up for my newsletter, visit: https://davidyoung.house.gov/contact/newsletter  

I held a number of telephone town halls to discuss your thoughts and ideas, and 300,162 Iowans were called and invited to participate. I intend to host many more and Iowans can sign up to join the next telephone town hall by visiting: https://davidyoung.house.gov/services/townhall-signup

I report directly to the people of Iowa. I’m pleased to report I upheld my promise to visit each county in our District at least once every month last year, that means at least 192 visits across all of our 16 counties. In total, I made over 475 visits in the Third District. These included meetings with Iowans, tours of towns and communities, businesses, hospitals and clinics, visits to farms and schools, and more. I also hosted 16 Coffee with My Congressman town meetings, one in every county in the District.

Although we have accomplished a great deal this past year, in the coming weeks and months, we must address many issues of great importance to Iowa and our country. Economic security is on the minds of all Americans. We must continue working in Congress to expand opportunities and grow our economy. We also face deadly adversaries and threats and cannot let down our guard protecting our homeland and her people.

I am encouraged by your visits to our office, phone calls, emails, and the letters I receive, for it is through our ongoing conversations that I am better able to represent you. By working together, we will ensure the country we leave for our future generations is even greater than the one we inherited. 

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