When I’m not in Washington, D.C., I spend my time traveling around the Sixth District. It’s great to spend time at home, and to have an opportunity to put my finger on the pulse of my constituents. By visiting with folks at work and during their everyday lives and activities, I learn what matters most to them. And that is what matters most to me. The same topics of conversation I hear all across Minnesota are discussed in Washington; the dominating topic is the economy. The news is that our economy is out of the doldrums, and on the right track. We have seen economic growth for eight straight months. Three hundred and eight thousand jobs were created in March alone. This brings the total number of jobs created since last September to 789,000. That isn’t enough, but it’s a good start. But that’s considering America as a whole. What does that mean for us here in Minnesota? Minnesota’s economic growth is hard to miss, and is at least up to, if not a little better than, the national average. This week I took advantage of an opportunity to tour Minnesota manufacturing businesses with Commerce Undersecretary Kathleen Cooper. The manufacturing sector is growing at a renewed rate, and it was a wonderful chance for me to see economic growth in Minnesota first-hand. One of the businesses the undersecretary and I visited was a commercial refrigeration company in Ramsey. In the last four months alone, their workforce grew by 13 percent. Even with significant productivity gains, they went from 70 to 80 employees. We then stopped by a technology company in Coon Rapids that has experienced a recent surge in orders. In those same four months, they have added 45 employees. This is an increase of 25 percent of the company’s workforce. Half of what they manufacture is sold overseas to countries like Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Canada. Meeting with representatives of leading manufacturers showed the Undersecretary and me that Minnesota is on the forefront of America’s economic recovery. During the same trip, I spoke with a couple of people in an Elk River coffee shop about the economy. One gentleman was a machinist who told me how machining activity was a keen indicator of the economy as a whole. The signs of economic development were obvious to him, and in his words, the economy is “roaring back.” I describe this economy as a fighter jet getting ready to take off from an aircraft carrier. We don’t need to put up a trip wire just as that plane is getting ready to soar. That means we have to make sure the tax relief continues – we must not raise taxes. We have to eliminate the frivolous lawsuits, get a handle on government spending, keep knocking down foreign barriers to our products, and slow down these exploding health care costs. As I said, we have more to do. I’ll continue to take what I hear in Minnesota back to Washington. We need to pass laws that strengthen this recovery, not choke it off.
