Congress is in recess through this week and Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says he’ll be using that time to host town hall meetings in five northwest Iowa cities. During this month-long break, Grassley says he’s made a lot of stops in counties across Iowa and he’s hearing from constituents about a host of issues and concerns.
“Ukraine, ISIS, Medicare, the president issuing executive orders, the EPA regulations particularly as it affects agriculture.” Grassley, a Republican, blames Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, of Nevada, for cutting the upcoming work session short. Ordinarily, Grassley says, members of Congress would be back at work for more than a month following the August recess during an election year, adjourning around the 10th or 12th of October.
“This year, Reid is so nervous about losing Demcratic control of the United State Senate, he told us in July that he was going to adjourn for the election on September 23rd,” Grassley says. “So, we have at a maximum, unless we work weekends, we’ll only have 12 days of sessions.”
Most of that time, Grassley expects the chamber to be focused on budget talks, debating the amount of money that will be spent next year. Grassley says, “There will probably be other things brought up, but I think you have to realize that for the most part, the Senate’s going to be run to whatever benefits the Democrats politically because of their concern about losing control of the United States Senate.”
Grassley is holding town hall meetings this week in: Rockwell City, Odebolt, Holstein, Denison and Jefferson. With these meetings, he says he will have visited all 99 Iowa counties this year for the 34th year in a row.