Statewide Iowa — Senator Chuck Grassley has completed his schedule of holding some sort of meeting in each of Iowa’s 99 counties every year.
Grassley has been doing the 99 county tour since he became a U.S. Senator in 1981 and a town hall meeting in Greenfield Wednesday was his 99th and final tour event this year. He served six years in the U.S. House before that. During that period in the 1970s, Grassley toured the 16 counties in his House district four times a year. Grassley says it’s all because of something he overheard decades ago.
Grassley says visiting businesses, schools and civil organizations as well as holding town hall style meetings like the one in Adair County Wednesday helps him gauge public opinion and influences his votes in congress.
The circuit has become known as “the full Grassley” and he’s gotten some guff from other politicians — including presidential candidates who’ve been compelled to make the trek.
Grassley says by November 1st he’ll make a decision about whether he’ll be campaigning for an eighth term in the US. Senate next year. He’s been talking with his wife, Barbara, and his immediate family about the decision.
Iowa GOP chairman Jeff Kaufmann says he’ll be relieved if Grassley decides to seek reelection. During a rally in eastern Iowa this past weekend, Kaufmann called Grassley an Iowa legend.
Grassley was chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2018 when Brett Kavanaugh was nominated and confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
A few people in the crowd at a GOP rally this past weekend booed Grassley when he was first introduced at the fundraiser. Genia Kujath of Marion is upset that Grassley voted for the infrastructure bill. Grassley says if he could talk to her, he’d thank her for voting for him in the past.
Grassley says there’s misinformation circulating about his vote, suggesting the bill includes a mileage tax which it does not. That’s in a separate bill Democrats advanced, which Grassley voted against. Grassley says groups representing Iowa’s ag sector, county boards of supervisors and chambers of commerce around the state have all been telling him the state needs more federal help to repair roads and bridges.
Grassley says there’s a risk Iowa’s economy will suffer if aging infrastructure isn’t fixed. The bipartisan infrastructure bill passed with 69 “yes” votes. Nineteen Republicans, including Grassley and the Senate’s Republican leader were among its supporters.
