Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa)

Prepared Floor Statement by U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) on Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2023.

I come to report to you on some of the activities I did during the August break and what Iowans were telling me.

On August the 29th, I completed my annual 99 county meetings for the 43rd year in a row.

My decades-long practice is a part of my commitment to the people of Iowa to keep in touch with them, because representative government is a two-way street.

Those of us elected to the Senate and the House are one half of the process, and my constituents are the other half of that process.

Holding at least one Q&A in every county, every year is one way that I foster dialogue.

No matter the setting, the format is the same: my Iowa constituents set the agenda.

I’ve spent the last five weeks while the Senate was not in session convening with Iowans in every corner of our state, with nearly 40 Q&As that I had with those constituents in those counties.

From factory floors and rural hospitals, to town meetings, Iowans shared their points of view with me.

Now, I’m bringing their concerns back to my colleagues here in the Congress. Even though you don’t represent Iowans, you need to know what they’re telling me.

One consistent theme that I gathered from my meetings: Iowans are fed up with soaring inflation and high interest rates.

The Biden economy is not working for Iowans.

Contrary to the sales pitch parroted by this administration, Iowans aren’t buying the Biden economy.

From the feedback I got at my county meetings, the so-called “Bidenomics” – “rebuilding our economy from the bottom up and the middle out”-is not working as Iowans see it.

Iowans are emptying their pocketbooks just to make ends meet.

I heard from Iowa families about the high cost of groceries at their supermarkets and the pain they are feeling each time they fill up their gas tanks.

This administration’s assault on fossil fuels and lackluster support for homegrown biofuels isn’t helping.

Young American, as well as young Iowans, in particular, are concerned about the record-high mortgage rates hindering home ownership.

Iowans work hard, but the Biden economy is hardly working for them.

Another issue that Iowans are especially attuned to, as you would expect because we’re a great agricultural state, is the timing of the upcoming Farm Bill.

I held a meeting at the Lamoni Food Pantry to learn about their nutrition services there in Decatur County.

They were also concerned about the SNAP Program within the farm bill.

I met with egg producers, pork producers, dairy producers and cattlemen at the Iowa State Fair, and their message was very clear:

Farmers need certainty, and a farm bill should be passed as soon as possible.

I look forward to working in a bipartisan way to deliver a farm bill to the American people.

After my 99th county meeting, I celebrated as I usually do with a Snickers Blizzard at Dairy Queen in Onawa, Iowa.

All this doesn’t mean my work is over.

I’m going to continue between now and the end of the year to hold more Q&As throughout this period of time. I hope to see my fellow Iowans soon at football games, businesses large and small, or a Dairy Queen near any one of them.