Iowa’s senior senator today met with the man who’ll soon be President of the United States Senate. Vice President-elect Dick Cheney met with Senator Charles Grassley in Washington, as Grassley will lead the powerful Senate Finance Committee in January. He says they talked today about helping the new president with the transition.Bush and Cheney campaigned on a ten-year, one-point-three trillion-dollar tax cut package. Grassley isn’t ready to endorse that large a tax cut, yet.Grassley says it would be best for Bush and the narrow Republican Congressional majority to move, first, on eliminating the so-called “marriage tax” penalty and the “death” tax.Grassley says across-the-board income tax cuts will be tough to pass.Grassley, in his new role as Finance Committee chairman, will meet with Cheney and other transition team officials often in the next six weeks.Grassley’s committee deals with tax, Social Security and trade issues, and will review Bush’s Cabinet nominees for Treasury Secretary, Health and Human Services Secretary and U-S Trade Representative.
