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Rod Blum
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Iowa's 1st district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 2015
Preceded by	Bruce Braley
Personal details
Born	Rodney Leland Blum (1955-04-26) April 26, 1955 (age 69) Dubuque, Iowa, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Residence(s)	Dubuque, Iowa
Alma mater	Loras College University of Dubuque
Occupation	Software executive

Rodney Leland "Rod" Blum /ˈblʌm/ (born April 26, 1955) is an American politician who was elected to represent Iowa's 1st congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2014. A member of the Republican Party, he took office on January 3, 2015.

Career

Blum attended Loras College where he earned a degree in finance, and the University of Dubuque where he earned a master’s degree in business administration. A businessman, Blum is a former CEO of Eagle Point Software (1990–2000) and owner of Digital Canal, a software company, since 2000.

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

After winning the Republican primary in June 2014, Blum defeated Democrat Pat Murphy with 51% of the vote in the November 4, 2014, general election. This was considered a surprise Republican victory, as the seat had a D+5 Cook PVI Score. Blum succeeded Democrat Bruce Braley, who vacated his U.S. House seat to run unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate.

Blum ran for re-election in 2016. He was unopposed in the Republican primary. He faced Democrat Monica Vernon in the general election. Blum defeated Vernon with 54% of the vote.

Electoral history

Committee assignments

• Committee on Small Business
  • Subcommittee on Agriculture, Energy and Trade (chair)
• Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
  • Subcommittee on Information Technology

Caucus memberships

• Congressional Slovak Caucus
• Congressional Term Limits Caucus
• Freedom Caucus

Political stances

Blum describes himself as a "Tea Party Republican," and has said that "the Tea Party is what the Republican Party should have always been." As of 26 February 2017, Blum has voted with his party in 93.9% of votes in the 115th United States Congress and voted in line with President Trump's position in 100% of the votes.

Abortion and family planning

Blum opposes abortion.

He has voted to defund Planned Parenthood. He supported creating a select committee to investigate Planned Parenthood for allegedly selling fetal tissue. Of the multiple investigations into this controversy, none found Planned Parenthood clinics to have sold tissue for profit.

Budget

Blum favors a "a constitutional amendment to balance the budget and limit spending."

Congress

Blum cast his first vote in Congress against John Boehner's speakership. Blum justified his vote by saying, "I was elected by Iowans to stand up to the status quo in Washington, D.C., and I refuse to turn my back on them with my first vote... With congressional approval ratings at historic lows, it's time for our elected officials to listen to the people and rethink business as usual so we can move our country forward together."

According to USA Today, Blum has "made it his central focus to change the way Congress treats itself by supporting efforts to strip away the trappings of elective office." Blum and Democrat Beto O'Rourke started the Congressional Term Limits Caucus. He co-sponsored legislation to end lawmakers' access to first class travel and luxury car leases, he supports ending the congressional pension system, and he has introduced a bill to institute a lifetime ban on lawmakers ever becoming lobbyists.

District of Columbia

In March 2016, in light of a $2 billion redevelopment of D.C.’s Southwest waterfront, Blum said that Washington D.C. "needs a recession."

Donald Trump

In July 2015, Blum said that then-candidate Donald Trump's rhetoric "gives people that sense of pride again".

In February 2017, he voted against a resolution that would have directed the House to request 10 years of Trump's tax returns, which would then have been reviewed by the House Ways and Means Committee in a closed session.

Environment

Blum rejects the scientific consensus on climate change. In explaining his rejection of the consensus, Blum falsely asserted that the scientific community used to support the conjecture of global cooling. He has said, "most scientists’ paychecks come from the federal government, and so right away that makes me a bit skeptical." Blum opposes federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions.

He has a 3% score by the League of Conservation Voters.

Government shutdown

In 2015, Blum voted against legislation that would have averted a government shutdown. Discussing the government shutdown, Blum said, "I think the Founding Fathers are smiling right now for the first time in a long time".

Healthcare

Blum favors "fully repealing" the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).

LGBT rights

In 2004, Blum favored a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. In 2013, he said that same-sex marriage should be determined by states. He has voted in favor of provisions which would allow federal contractors to discriminate against people based on their sexual orientation.

Minimum wage

Blum opposes an increase in the federal minimum wage.

National security

Blum supported President Donald Trump's 2017 executive order to temporarily curtail immigration from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen until better screening methods are devised. He stated that ” … The bottom line is they can’t properly vet people coming from war-torn areas like Syria and Iraq. If we can’t vet people properly, then we shouldn’t be allowing them into our country. I’m supportive of that.”

Term limits for congressmen

Blum supports a constitutional amendment to enforce term limits for congressmen. When asked how many terms he was going to seek in an April 2015 interview, Blum responded, "I'm not going to term limit myself. I definitely believe in term limits, but I don't believe in unilaterally disarming...Do I see myself being in the House of Representatives 10 years from now? No, I don't."

Controversy

Then-candidate Blum pledged to give half of his taxpayer-funded salary to charity unless the federal budget was balanced: "I will lead by example and voluntarily cut my pay by returning half to charities and volunteer organizations in the First District of Iowa". After having been elected, Blum refused to say whether he followed through on his promise. Blum also questioned whether he campaigned on the issue at all: “I don’t think I campaigned on it... I have no idea why it’s on the website.” Blum later said that people did not care about his pledge, "You know how many people have asked me about that in the last 600 days? ... Zero. Zero people care about that."

Personal life

Blum, the son of a World War II veteran, was born and raised in Dubuque. He resides there with his wife, Karen, and their five children. He is Episcopalian.

References

1. DES (9 May 2014). "Iowa Election 2014". Des Moines Register.
2. ^ "Rod Blum Announces Campaign for Congress in 1st CD | The Iowa Republican". theiowarepublican.com.
3. "Cook PVI website" (PDF).
4. "Rod Blum wins 1st Congressional District race". Des Moines Register. November 5, 2014. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
5. ^ Cahn, Emily (June 12, 2015). "Blum Says Others Will Support Him If Republicans Don't". Roll Call. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
6. Barton, Thomas (June 8, 2016). "After conceding, Murphy endorses Vernon in effort to unseat Blum". Telegraph Herald. Retrieved 8 June 2016.
7. "Iowa U.S. House 1st District Results: Rod Blum Wins". The New York Times. November 16, 2016. Retrieved 16 November 2016.
8. Lynch, James (June 1, 2015). "Blum joins Congressional Slovak Caucus". The Gazette. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
9. Marcos, Cristina (April 2, 2015). "Lawmakers form Term Limits Caucus". The Hill. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
10. Bialik, Carl; Bycoffe, Aaron (25 September 2015). "The Hard-Line Republicans Who Pushed John Boehner Out". FiveThirtyEight. Retrieved 2015-09-28.
11. jonathan.ericson@wcfcourier.com, JON ERICSON,. "Rod Blum thinks economy is key". Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier. Retrieved 2017-02-26.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
12. EMURPHY@WCINET.COM, ERIN MURPHY TH STAFF WRITER. "Blum, Lange expound on telling topics". THonline.com. Retrieved 2017-02-26.
13. Bycoffe, Aaron (2017-01-30). "Tracking Rod Blum In The Age Of Trump". FiveThirtyEight. Retrieved 2017-02-26.
14. Willis, Derek. "Represent". ProPublica. Retrieved 2017-02-26.
15. ^ "The Voter's Self Defense System". Project Vote Smart. Retrieved 2017-02-26.
16. ^ Crippes, Christinia. "Blum supports defunding Planned Parenthood". Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier. Retrieved 2017-02-26.
17. ^ Perkins, Lindsey Moon, Katherine. "Candidate Profile: Rod Blum". Retrieved 2017-02-26.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
18. "In first vote, Blum rejects Boehner as speaker". Des Moines Register. Retrieved 2017-02-26.
19. Davis, Susan (May 7, 2015). "Freshman Rod Blum flies solo on his mission to change Congress". USA Today. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
20. Stein, Perry (March 23, 2016). "Iowa congressman says D.C. needs a recession because it has 'cranes everywhere'". Washington Post. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
21. Freed, Benjamin (March 23, 2016). "This Iowa Congressman Really Hates the Wharf in Southwest DC'". Washingtonian. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
22. "VIDEO". Retrieved 2017-02-26.
23. "These are all the Republicans who don't want you to see Donald Trump's tax returns". indy100. 2017-02-28. Retrieved 2017-03-01.
24. "Check out Representative Rod Blum's Environmental Voting Record". League of Conservation Voters Scorecard. Retrieved 2017-02-26.
25. Crippes, Christinia. "Blum, King vote against resolution to keep open government". Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier. Retrieved 2017-02-26.
26. Courier, CHRISTINIA CRIPPES Waterloo. "Rod Blum discusses House Freedom Caucus". Mason City Globe Gazette. Retrieved 2017-02-26.
27. Caffeinated Thoughts (2013-10-10), Rod Blum Interview, retrieved 2017-02-26
28. "David Young among those who switched vote on LGBT measure". Des Moines Register. Retrieved 2017-02-26.
29. Blake, Aaron. "Coffman, Gardner join Republicans against President Trump's travel ban; here's where the rest stand". Denver Post. Retrieved January 30, 2017.
30. WILLIAM.GARBE@THMEDIA.COM, WILLIAM GARBE. "Rod Blum still above water with Republican Party, despite votes". THonline.com. Retrieved 2017-02-26.
31. ^ william.garbe@thmedia.com, WILLIAM GARBE. "Blum returns office money, mum on salary promises". THonline.com. Retrieved 2017-02-26.
32. "Project Vote Smart – The Voter's Self Defense System". Project Vote Smart.

External links

• U.S. Congressman Rod Blum official U.S. House site
• Campaign website
• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
• Legislation sponsored at the Library of Congress
• Profile at Vote Smart
• Rod Blum at Ballotpedia

v t e Members of the U.S. House of Representatives from Iowa
1st	W. Thompson Miller Henn A. Hall S. Curtis J. F. Wilson McCrary Stone McCoid B. Hall Gear Seerley Gear S. Clark Hedge Kennedy Kopp Eicher Martin Schwengel Schmidhauser Schwengel Mezvinsky Leach Nussle Braley Blum Finkenauer Hinson Miller-Meeks
2nd	Leffler L. Clark J. P. Cook Thorington Davis Vandever Price Smyth W. Wolf Cotton Tufts Price Farwell Murphy Hayes G. Curtis Lane Rumple Wade Dawson Pepper Vollmer Hull Letts B. Jacobsen W. Jacobsen Talle L. Wolf Bromwell Culver Blouin Tauke Nussle Leach Loebsack Miller-Meeks Hinson
3rd	Allison Donnan Ainsworth Burdick Updegraff Henderson Birdsall Pickett Connolly Sweet Robinson Willford Gwynne Gross Grassley Evans Nagle Lightfoot Boswell Latham Young Axne Nunn
4th	Grinnell Loughridge Walden Pratt Deering Weller Fuller Sweney Butler Updegraff Haugen Biermann Talle LeCompte Carter Kyl Bandstra Kyl N. Smith Ganske Latham King Feenstra
5th	Kasson G. Dodge Palmer J. Wilson R. Clark W. G. Thompson J. Wilson Frederick Kerr J. Hamilton Cousins Good Cole Thurston LeCompte Cunningham N. Smith Scherle Harkin Lightfoot Grandy Latham King
6th	A. Hubbard Pomeroy Orr Loughridge Sampson Weaver Cutts J. C. Cook Cutts J. C. Cook Weaver Lacey White Lacey D. Hamilton Kendall Kirkpatrick Ramseyer Dowell Utterback Dowell Goodwin Cunningham Gilchrist J. I. Dolliver Coad Hoeven Greigg Mayne Bedell Grandy
7th	Kasson Cummings E. Gillette Kasson H. Smith Conger Hays Hull Prouty Dowell Wearin Jensen Hansen Scherle
8th	McDill Sapp Hepburn Anderson Flick Hepburn Jamieson Towner Evans Thurston Gilchrist Hoeven
9th	Orr Oliver Carpenter Pusey Lyman Reed Bowman Hager McPherson W. Smith Green Vincent Swanson G. Gillette Harrington Narey
10th	Holmes J. P. Dolliver Conner Woods Dickinson Gilchrist
11th	Struble Perkins Thomas E. Hubbard Scott Steele Scott Boies Campbell
AL	Hastings Leffler
Terr	Chapman A. Dodge

• Living people
• 1955 births
• Politicians from Dubuque, Iowa
• Loras College alumni
• University of Dubuque alumni
• Iowa Republicans
• American Episcopalians
• Members of the United States House of Representatives from Iowa
• Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives
• 21st-century American politicians