1. Rodney Leland Blum is an American businessman and politician who served as the US representative for Iowa's 1st congressional district from 2015 to 2019.
28 Facts About Rod Blum
1. 2.
Rod Blum is the former CEO of Eagle Point Software.
3.
Rod Blum has owned Digital Canal, a software company, since 2000.
4.
Rod Blum served as Chair of the Dubuque County Republican Party from 1995 to 1997.
5.
Rod Blum succeeded Democrat Bruce Braley, who vacated his US House seat to run unsuccessfully for the US Senate.
6.
Rod Blum faced Democrat Monica Vernon in the general election.
7.
Rod Blum was defeated in 2018 by state representative Abby Finkenauer.
8.
Rod Blum has described himself as "skeptical" of the scientific consensus that human activities are a primary contributor to climate change.
9.
Rod Blum favored "fully repealing" the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
10.
In 2017, Rod 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".
11.
On May 4,2017, Rod Blum voted to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and pass the revised version of the American Health Care Act.
12.
Rod Blum said that the bill had been improved to his liking.
13.
In May 2017, Rod 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.
14.
In 2015, Rod Blum voted against legislation that would have averted a government shutdown.
15.
Rod Blum opposed a mandatory increase in the federal minimum wage.
16.
Rod Blum supported tax reform and voted in favor of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.
17.
Rod Blum 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.
18.
In 2015, Rod Blum returned $102,000 of his unspent 2015 office budget to the United States Treasury to help pay down the national debt.
19.
Rod Blum did not confirm whether he planned to donate half of his congressional salary to charity, which he had pledged to do on his campaign website.
20.
Rod Blum supported a constitutional amendment to enforce term limits for congressmen.
21.
Rod Blum supported creating a select committee to investigate Planned Parenthood for allegedly selling fetal tissue.
22.
Rod Blum has a "B" rating from NORML for his voting history regarding cannabis-related causes.
23.
Rod Blum has voted in favor of federally funded programs regarding medical marijuana research.
24.
Rod Blum believes that same-sex marriage should be determined by states.
25.
In June 2018, amid a brewing trade war between the United States and China, Rod Blum urged the Trump administration "to avoid a trade war".
26.
Rod Blum was involved as a creditor to the parents of NHL player Jack Johnson, who was bankrupted by the high rates of the loans his parents took out in his name.
27.
Tin Moon's address is listed in the same Dubuque office as a construction software company Rod Blum owns, Digital Canal, and Rod Blum's chief of staff was featured in online testimonials for Tin Moon.
28.
Rod Blum described the inquiry into him as a "crusade of personal destruction" waged by the "radical left".