Grassley Holds "Q & A" In Mills County

Iowa Senator Charles Grassley made a swing through Mills County last Tuesday as part of his promise to visit all 99 counties each year during breaks in his Washington, D.C. schedule.

Meeting at the Southwest Iowa Technical Career Hub (SWITCH) in Hastings for over an hour, constituents, educators and a handful of elected officials lobbed questions at the eight-term senator in the “Q & A” session. Questions covered a broad range of issues, including mental health care in schools, cuts to the department of education and public broadcasting, prescription drug costs, affordable childcare and agriculture.

Grassley opened the session by reminding the more than 30 people in attendance representative government has two sides: he’s one side, the constituents the other.

“You set the agenda with your questions,” he said

Dr. Dan Kinney, president of Iowa Western Community College, who partners with SWITCH to provide career and technical education, early childhood education, nursing and CDL, was one of a handful in the audience expressing concerns with recent cuts to the U.S Department of Education and its many grant programs.

In March, President Trump signed an executive order directing Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to take steps to begin facilitating the closure of the U.S. Department of Education.

“There’s grants out there to strengthen community colleges like Iowa Western and this program, Pell, Title III grants,” Kinney said, referring to the federal grant program intended to strengthen higher education institutions in addition to assisting English language learners.

“What happens to those (grants) with the downsizing and if the department (of education) goes away?”

Grassley reminded the audience he was the lone member of congress to vote against the formation of the U.S. Department of Education in 1979 but added that the complete dismantling of the DOE is unlikely.

“There aren’t enough votes to do that in the Senate. It takes congressional approval (to close the DOE),” Grassley said. “The senate takes 60 (votes) even if they passed (a bill) to close it in the house, the senate would likely not even take it up.”

He added if the president does “neuter” the DOE, those programs the department manages, such as federal grants, access to special education and low-income programs for students, would be administered by other departments but doesn’t see that happening either.

“They could afford to downsize it and still carry on the programs,” Grassley said. “I doubt they could get all those programs administered somewhere else. That would waste money if the education department isn’t administering anything.”

Grassley went on to address the need for more access to mental health training and treatment in schools and the need to “incentivize” big business to partner with families and schools to create better opportunities for affordable childcare in urban and rural areas.

Mills County Supervisor Jack Sayers inquired about what Grassley and Congress can do to attract and keep young farmers in Iowa.

Grassley currently serves on the agriculture committee, in addition to the judiciary, budget and finance committees in the senate. He said the hope is the five-year farm bill that is currently in the works can address at least part of that rural exodus issue with proposed tax incentives aimed at young farmers.

When asked about U.S Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his “Make American Healthy Again” campaign cuts to vaccine research, Grassley stopped short of full-throated support.

“I don’t feel qualified to decide if he’s crazy or not,” Grassley said of Kennedy, with a smile. “But I think Americans should decide what they want to eat. I do think thinking about your diet and what processed foods you do eat is a good idea.

Grassley added Kennedy’s stance on vaccines is a little “far out” for him.

“It’s reasonable to believe that vaccines save lives,” Grassley said. “But asking questions about them is OK.”

After the Q & A, Grassley addressed recent tariffs targeting imports from dozens of countries and specific industries. He said those tariffs appear to be a bigger issue  “in the business section of the newspaper,” as he’s heard very little on them from constituents. But he has noticed the uncertainty they’ve brought on more in businesses than consumers.

“I think the uncertainty of what Trump is doing is lessening with some of the successes he’s had with the European Union, the United Kingdom, Japan, South Korea and Indonesia,” he went on to say. “Quite frankly, back in February I thought this was going to upset everybody. But I’m not so sure I’m not seeing some success in his plan. If you asked me that six months ago, I don’t know I would have said that.”

SWITCH was one of a half dozen stops on the day for the 91-year-old. The senate returns to session after Labor Day. Grassley said he will prioritize his proposed federal legislation targeting more affordable drug costs and the retention of small and rural community pharmacies and getting the farm bill done on his return to Washington.