Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says he’s becoming increasingly agitated by having such a short work week.
Grassley, a Republican, says Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, has strayed far from how it was when Grassley first went to work as a U.S. senator. Grassley says in those days, the week started at 10 AM on Monday and ran through 4 PM on Friday.
“It’s got really bad in the last four years under Schumer,” Grassley says. “We’d start the first vote at 5:30 on Monday (evening). There’s no other work done Monday, except that vote, work a full day Tuesday, a full day Wednesday, and a half a day on Thursday, and then everybody heads to the airport.”
Grassley says the country’s problems can’t be solved if the Senate is only in session two-and-a-half days a week.
“We need a Republican majority and we’re going to have a new Republican leader that’s going to run the United States Senate,” Grassley says, “and so with each of the three candidates that are running for leader, if they want my vote, they better be committed to working five days a week.”
Grassley made his comments at a town hall meeting in Atlantic on Tuesday.
(Ric Hanson, KJAN, Atlantic)