Tom Harkin: Fighting for Iowa’s Working Families

Throughout his 18 years in the Senate, Tom Harkin has been one of the leading fighters for working families, compiling a virtually unparalleled record of advocacy on workers’ rights, trade, jobs, education, health care and retirement security.

While Harkin can always be counted on to be on our side, he also can always be counted on to have a tough race for reelection. This year is no different. His opponent, Rep. Greg Ganske (R-Iowa), presents a tough challenge, making this one of the most closely contested and important races in the nation.

It’s also a race with clear contrasts between the candidates. Harkin sided with working families on every key issue before the Senate in 2001, according to the AFL-CIO, while Ganske did so less than half the time. Over his entire career in the House, Ganske has sided against the interests of working families more than 75 percent of the time.

On a host of critical issues affecting the lives of working families, Harkin and Ganske take opposite sides:

• Harkin voted to protect workers from repetitive motion injuries by keeping the tough ergonomics standard which CWA worked more than a decade to win. However, Ganske voted in the House not only to repeal it but to prohibit the Occupational Safety and Health Administration from issuing a similar rule. Ganske’s action puts millions of workers, including many CWA members, at continued risk of painful, crippling injury.

• Harkin voted against giving away an average of $342,000 per family over the next decade in tax cuts for the wealthiest 1 percent of taxpayers — people whose incomes average more than $1 million a year. However, Ganske voted for the millionaire tax cut, taking away precious resources from Social Security, Medicare, health care and education.

• Harkin voted against a critical budget resolution that wiped out the old budget surplus to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy. Ganske voted for it.

• Harkin strongly opposed “Fast Track” trade legislation giving President Bush a green light to extend NAFTA’s drain on U.S. jobs and our standard of living throughout the entire hemisphere. But Ganske provided the one-vote margin of victory for Fast Track in the House.

In Harkin, Iowa voters have a proven leader who, as chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee, has worked hard for family farmers. He is outspoken and unafraid to take on issues that politicians of less courage would shy away from.

On health care, he is a vigorous advocate for a strong Patients’ Bill of Rights, a true Medicare prescription drug benefit, and ironclad protections for patients’ privacy.

On Social Security, Harkin opposes President Bush’s privatization scheme, which would place the pillar of Americans’ retirement security at the mercy of the stock market.

On education, he won major increases in funding for school modernization and construction.

And when it comes to workers’ rights, Tom Harkin’s leadership stands second to none.

While the contrast between Harkin and Ganske is huge, the significance of this race extends beyond one vote in the Senate. The outcome could determine which party controls the Senate for the next two years, with major consequences on every policy and budget issue that matters (see U.S. Senate: One Vote Makes All the Difference).

Iowa’s working families are fortunate to have a leader of Harkin’s integrity and commitment representing them in the United States Senate. For CWA members, the choice between Harkin and Ganske is clear.

Tom Harkin stands with CWA and the labor movement every step of the way. His support for our working families agenda has been constant and uncompromising. By his actions, he has earned our respect, our support and another term in the U.S. Senate.

This portion of this website is paid for by the CWA Committee on Political Education - Political ontributions Committee, with voluntary contributions from union members and their families, and is not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.