Dear Friend,

While this week brings another welcome opportunity to spend time in Minnesota, recent reckless spending has brought new urgency to the problems caused by inflation. As much as I’m enjoying time around the district, I hope that September will bring an opportunity to vote on legislation that will rein in debt, not add more to the pile.

Read on to hear about my work this week…

The Costs of Shortsighted Spending

Yet again, it feels like we’re living through Groundhog Day: the Biden Administration has chosen massive, short-term spending over America’s long-term financial stability. President Biden’s scheme to spend an estimated $300-980 billion to “cancel” $10,000 of student loan debt per borrower is a cynical ploy that disproportionately puts money in the pockets of America’s wealthier households while driving up the long-term cost of education.

The most immediate concern is who will foot the bill. Debt cannot be truly cancelled, only transferred, and in this case the cost of student debt cancellation will be carried over to the 4 in 5 Americans without student loans. This includes those who have already paid off their loans and those who never had them to begin with.

Despite what the Biden Administration might have you believe, student debt holders are wealthier than their neighbors without loans. Those in the top fifth of household income hold $3 in student loans for every $1 held by the bottom fifth of household incomes. Student loan forgiveness demands that those 210 million Americans take on the debt of those 45 million borrowers—with payment that will no doubt be collected by the 87,000 new IRS agents hired by Democrats’ so-called Inflation Reduction Act.

With prices still at 40-year highs, we must find tangible ways to rein in spending, not pile on the debt. The path to affordable education must include real investments in job training and apprenticeships, like the kind proposed in my Investing in American Workers Act to incentivize on-the-job training and my ASPIRE Act to improve ag education. No student should have to take on debt to enter the workforce and we must expand our definition of career-focused education beyond a four-year degree. Greater options for young people, from apprenticeships to job trainings to quality two-year and certificate programs, will help strengthen our economy and create competition to drive down overall education costs.

Recognizing Congressional Startup Day

From publicly-traded giants to Main Street strongholds, some of our nation’s most innovative businesses began as fledgling startups. Last week, I was proud to serve as a Co-Chair of Congressional Startup Day, when we recognize the important role startups play in driving America’s economy forward.

Congressman Emmer meets with members of the Minnesota startup community at ILT Studios in St. Cloud.

The United States is by far the world’s leader in startups, with more than 71,000 currently operating. Since 2010, startups have accounted for about 30 percent of employment gains in the U.S. each year.

We celebrated Congressional Startup Day by visiting ILT Studios, a startup incubator and accelerator located in St. Cloud. Since 2019, ILT Studios have offered a 20-week training program with courses for both entrepreneurs-to-be and those who have already founded a company.

I welcomed the opportunity to speak to startup leaders and employees and discuss how Congress can support the formation and success of these innovative and job-creating ventures.

Parents Deserve Input

As another school year begins, many parents have the same question—just what will our children be learning in school? Parent participation in the classroom should be encouraged, not smothered. Read more about how we’re working to bring transparency back into the classroom in my latest blog, here. 

Until next week, if you are in need of assistance or would like to share your thoughts with me, please write me an e-mail here.

To keep up with what we’re doing in Washington, follow me on Twitter and Facebook for more updates!

Sincerely,