Congressman: ‘DC needs a recession’

Rep. Rod Blum (R-Iowa) said Monday that Washington, D.C., is “being built on the backs of US taxpayers” and suggested that the district needs an economic recession. 

Blum is a freshman congressman and businessman who upset Rep. Pat Murphy (D) in 2014 to take former Rep. Bruce Braley’s (D) seat. 

He was one of only a few first-term representatives to vote against then-Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and is considered an anti-establishment lawmaker. He began a caucus for members of Congress who support term limits, pushed to end his colleagues’ access to first-class travel and introduced a bill to keep lawmakers from becoming lobbyists, according to USA Today.

“I think people are really, really tired of what they perceive to be the ruling class, the political class,” he told USA Today. “Their pay goes up. They can fly first class. They can drive fancy cars. And taxpayers are paying for this.”