Rod Blum

Rodney Leland Blum (born April 26, 1955) is an American businessman and politician who served as the U.S. representative for Iowa's 1st congressional district from 2015 to 2019.

Blum is the former CEO of Eagle Point Software (1990–2000).

Blum served as Chair of the Dubuque County Republican Party from 1995 to 1997.

He has owned Digital Canal, a software company, since 2000.

A member of the Republican Party, he was first elected in 2014 and won a second term in the 2016 elections.

Bloom has described himself as a member of the Tea Party movement.

After winning the Republican primary in June 2014, Blum defeated Democratic state representative 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.

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".

Blum ran for reelection 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.

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."

Blum opposed a mandatory increase in the federal minimum wage.

As of October 2017, Blum had voted with the Republican Party in 90% of votes in the 115th United States Congress and voted in line with President Trump's position in 94% of the votes.

Blum has described himself as "skeptical" of the scientific consensus that human activities are a primary contributor to climate change.

He claimed that the scientific community used to support the conjecture of global cooling and that "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.

As of February 2017, he had a 3% score with the League of Conservation Voters.

Blum favored "fully repealing" the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).

In 2017, Blum did not support the initial version of the American Health Care Act of 2017, the Republican Party's bill to repeal and replace Obamacare, saying that it "doesn't do enough to lower premiums for hardworking Americans".

On May 4, 2017, Blum voted to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and pass the revised version of the American Health Care Act.

Blum said that the bill had been improved to his liking.

He described the bill as "Trumpcare" but also as "Obamacare 2.0" because "We've probably changed 10, 20 percent of the bill is all."

Blum said that "AHCA will stabilize the market, lower premiums for Iowans, increase choices, reduce taxes, and protect people who have pre-existing conditions."

Asked why he voted for the legislation before the impact of the bill had been assessed by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, Blum stated that there was an urgent need for a fix to Obamacare.

During his town halls in May 2017, Blum falsely claimed that if the current version of AHCA became law that coverage would not change for those on Medicaid.

He also told his constituents, "If you're getting your insurance through the group health care marketplace — your employer — nothing changes."

This was found to be partly false when fact checked by National Public Radio, as whether someone's insurance would change under the GOP bill depends on whether an employer is based in and purchases its insurance in a state that gets a waiver.

Blum also said that AHCA would take care of the same people as the ACA; the Telegraph Herald wrote that under the AHCA, "Insurers still would be prohibited from setting premiums based on health status and denying coverage to someone with a pre-existing condition. However, those who do not maintain continuous coverage could be charged higher premiums for a pre-existing condition" and that states that seek waivers from the federal government would be allowed to charge older individuals up to five times as much as young people and to exempt insurers from a list of essential health benefits mandated by the ACA.

In May 2017, Blum walked out of a local television interview after being asked why his staff was pre-screening constituents who planned to attend his town hall meetings.

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

Blum supported tax reform and voted in favor of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.

In 2018, he was defeated for reelection by Democrat Abby Finkenauer.

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.

Blum was defeated in 2018 by state representative Abby Finkenauer.

Blum describes himself as a "Tea Party Republican," and has said that "the Tea Party is what the Republican Party should have always been."