Hi everyone, I hope you are all staying as warm as possible.

My wife Barbara and I were back in Iowa for the Iowa Student Leadership Conference over the weekend and it was blistering cold. It didn’t stop us from enjoying the conference though. We were proud to meet with the young Iowans who participated in the conference to learn about faith and values in leadership. We heard from great speakers who inspired all of us.

Today I participated in a Finance Committee hearing on the President’s fiscal 2008 budget. U.S. Department of Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson testified before the Committee. The hearing focused on the revenue side of the budget. The President’s budget acknowledges that the bipartisan tax relief has not gutted the tax base. In fact, we’ve been and are projected to continue for the mid-term on a revenue glide path that is above the historic average of revenue to gross domestic product.

I also spoke on the floor of the Senate today to explain the importance of enacting a strong renewable fuels policy. I wanted to be sure that both sides of the renewable fuels story got into the public. Following the state of the union, Democrats were critical of the President’s track record on renewable fuels. The fact is this industry has grown significantly in recent years, mostly due to pro renewable fuels policy enacted by a Republican Congress and President.