Issue Position: Economic Security for South Dakota's Working Families

Issue Position

Issue Position: Economic Security for South Dakota's Working Families

In Congress, I am working to strengthen the economic security of South Dakota's working families through smart, targeted legislation aimed at fair treatment for workers and economic growth across the state. I support policies and initiatives that guarantee real job opportunities with living wages, employment and retirement security, educational and training opportunities, and access to affordable child care to allow people to live, work and raise families in our great state.

Nobody works harder than the people of South Dakota, but we lag among other states when it comes to annual income. We also have the nation's highest number per capita of women working outside the home. South Dakota also has a large number of individuals who work one or more part-time jobs to make ends meet. Skyrocketing energy prices, including the price of gas at the pump, are making it harder for South Dakotans to provide for their families. South Dakota needs a leader committed to representing the interests of our working people, preserving our quality of life, raising our standard of living, and developing a wide range of domestic energy sources to help build rural economies and lower gasoline prices. Here are reasons why I am that leader:

Making Health Care Affordable. I strongly believe that access to quality and affordable health care should not be considered a luxury for hardworking families. I have dedicated myself to improving our health care system and searching for innovative and forward-looking ways to make health insurance more affordable and to reduce the number of uninsured people in South Dakota. I have supported efforts to enable small businesses to work together to offer quality, affordable health insurance coverage. I think we also need to treat the self-employed - including farmers and ranchers - more fairly by allowing them the ability to deduct the cost of healthcare premiums from self-employment taxes in addition to income taxes. I also support strengthening successful public health programs, like the Children's Health Insurance Program.

Fair Tax Policies. I strongly support the recent economic recovery tax rebates being distributed to hundreds of thousands of working South Dakota households, including disabled veterans and seniors, in an effort to strengthen the economy through common-sense tax relief. I also support tax credits for working families to help address the need for quality, flexible, and affordable childcare, and the lowering of working families' marginal tax rates.

Prosperity for Individuals and Small Businesses. I am committed to economic policies that promote growth and prosperity for all Americans. The recent economic stimulus package that I supported doubles small business tax write-offs for new capital investments. I believe trade legislation, wage and benefit laws, monetary policy, farm policy, and all our economic decisions must be judged by their effect on individual Americans and small businesses, not just by their effect on the profits of our country's large corporations.

Lower Gas Prices. I believe expanded domestic exploration of our domestic oil and gas resources, including drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf and other areas currently off limits, can be an important tool in what must be a comprehensive effort to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. I am a leader in the development of biofuels, which are already keeping gas prices lower than they otherwise would be, and I am proud to have played a central role in helping to pass the historic Renewable Fuels Standard included in the recent Energy Bill. I also support a range of targeted policies that are intended to help lower oil and gasoline prices, including giving the Department of Justice authority to act against oil cartels; enhancing Commodity Futures Trading Commission authority to prevent harmful price manipulation; and suspending additions to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

Fair Trade Policies. Undeniably, NAFTA has had devastating effects on our state's manufacturing and agriculture industries. I believe that free trade must also be fair trade - and I am working hard to ensure that our federal trade negotiators effectively represent the interests of individual South Dakota workers, farmers and ranchers, not just large corporate interests.

Education and Training. I believe that education and training opportunities such as tuition reimbursement, work stipends, and grant funding for apprenticeship programs allow people to work smarter, not just harder - and should have a central place in our policies.

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