Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) held a town hall on Tuesday in Fort Madison, Iowa.
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NewsTranscript
00:00:00Thank you all very much for coming. I'm glad we have such a large turnout. It's bigger than the last time I was here. And we always have our town meetings in Fort Madison at this place. The courthouse doesn't want us to come there. I don't know why.
00:00:26And we have a lot of media, I see. I've been doing this for 45 years, and I haven't had this much media at most of my meetings. So I'm really thrilled that you're paying attention to it. I had 396 county meetings during the four years of the Biden administration, and none of you showed up. I'm glad you're showing up now.
00:00:53Thank you for showing up.
00:00:55Yeah, I'm glad to be here. This is what it takes to, this is the best way to get your opinions, because I can see you and you can see me. But you know, I only see a few thousand people a year face to face.
00:01:09So I rely an awful lot on email and postal mail and telephone calls. And if you communicate with me that way, you should expect an answer. Right now, I think our number of being behind is about 35,000.
00:01:30Now, normally, you know, during the last four years, there's more like 3,000 or 4,000 behind. But there's a lot more interest now. So we keep track of those answers that are more than 30 days old, and that would be about 3,000 or 4,000.
00:01:49So normally, that would be zero the last several years. So I just want to tell you, you should expect an answer and get an answer. But right now, you may not get it as fast as you'd like.
00:02:05Let's see. Now, I learned something from the meeting we had in Hampton, that we have these big turnouts, because a lot of people want to bring up things that are new because of Trump being president.
00:02:21And that's perfectly all right. And we're going to cover those as well. But after that meeting, I got criticized because I was just listening to the people that wanted to complain about things that Trump are doing.
00:02:37So I've got a list of things here that I'm not going to speak about unless anybody wants to ask about it.
00:02:45But because I was criticized before, I want to go down this list. And if anybody's got a question like about the Farm Bill, raise your hand, or prescription drugs, or tax bill.
00:02:57And then when we're through this list, I'll open it up for questions from anybody. So has anybody come to talk about the Farm Bill?
00:03:07Okay, nobody wants...
00:03:09I have a farm question.
00:03:11Go ahead.
00:03:11Okay, my son has cattle.
00:03:13Yes.
00:03:14And he works a regular job, and then he has cow-calf pairs.
00:03:19Sure.
00:03:20And so I just wonder how the tariffs will affect someone like him. So if market-wise and long-term.
00:03:28So from this standpoint, it could affect... It's too early to make a judgment if what I'm going to say will happen.
00:03:38But for instance, one benefit might be from the fact that Australia today doesn't take our beef.
00:03:48So if Australia is one of those hundred countries that have come to Washington now to negotiate because Trump put the tariffs on,
00:03:57and we can get our beef into Australia, that would be to his benefit.
00:04:02But it could also be negative from the standpoint that if people don't negotiate, because there's a lot more countries than the hundred that have so far come to the table,
00:04:15then we know from past years, not just under Trump, but under other presidents, that when you put something negative, like a tariff, on some country,
00:04:31they seem to retaliate against agriculture issues.
00:04:38Now, I think it's probably more grain than it is livestock, as an example.
00:04:47Okay, then Prescript, go ahead.
00:04:50Well, I have an aligned question from a colleague in Fairfield.
00:04:53It says, Senator Grassley, thank you for co-sponsoring the Trade Review Act of 2025,
00:04:58which would restore congressional oversights of President Trump's tariffs.
00:05:05Given the uncertain fate of that bill in the House, what additional measures are you taking to protect your constituents and other Americans
00:05:14from the risks of inflation and recession likely to result from President Trump's tariffs,
00:05:20and from his lack of consistency, which undermines agriculture and business plan?
00:05:27Excellent.
00:05:27Okay.
00:05:30First of all, since you asked a question about my bill, it's prospective, not retroactive.
00:05:40And the reason it's raised now is, if I had raised this bill a year or two ago, when nobody was talking about tariffs,
00:05:49who would care what Grassley wants to do about recapturing the constitutional power of Congress to regulate interstate and foreign commerce?
00:05:58And, but now Trump has raised the issue of tariffs, it gives me a chance to make up for the mistakes that were done in 63 and 74.
00:06:11And remember, from 1954 until 1981, Democrats controlled both houses of Congress for all those years, and they passed tariff bills in 63 and 74,
00:06:27that basically gave away Congress's power to regulate interstate and foreign commerce to a president, whoever he is.
00:06:36So this is my attempt to recapture that power for the Congress of the United States where it shouldn't have been given up in the first place.
00:06:53Okay.
00:06:54Now, anybody interested in prescription drug prices?
00:07:00You're going to have to use a microphone because people can't hear you.
00:07:02I'm sorry, you can't hear you.
00:07:06You don't have a BAA.
00:07:09That's just media.
00:07:11Well, I've got to stand here?
00:07:12No, that's just for a C-span.
00:07:15We don't have a microphone.
00:07:16So they're saying they're having trouble hearing you, so just speak out.
00:07:19Oh, yes.
00:07:21Listen, thank you for saying that, and I'll try to talk louder.
00:07:25Okay, maybe I better stand over here a little bit because I'm not in the middle there.
00:07:30Okay, prescription drugs.
00:07:33Yeah, why haven't you done more to get the price of all drugs down?
00:07:38You've introduced a lot of legislation over the years regarding medicine,
00:07:42but none of those bills have brought the price of meds down substantially, with the exception of the epic bill.
00:07:49You're right, and you know the answer to it, because it's hard to defeat the pharmaceutical company.
00:07:58But what we're up now on prescription drugs is this.
00:08:03We're taking on the pharmacy benefit managers.
00:08:07They're the middle people between you and the company.
00:08:12Nobody knows what they do.
00:08:15And they would argue, you shouldn't know what we do because we're negotiating.
00:08:19But it affects the price, it affects the rebates, and it affects the formula.
00:08:25And we don't know what they're doing.
00:08:30Benefits the insurance companies or the pharmaceutical companies or you as a consumer
00:08:35or the local pharmacists, which is their real problem for the local pharmacists.
00:08:43And then themselves, they benefit, the PBMs benefit from it.
00:08:49And three big companies have 85% of all of it.
00:08:54And some of them are controlled by insurance companies.
00:08:57And you got, and we have a bipartisan bill, Cantwell, of Washington and me,
00:09:05that got out of committee last year.
00:09:09And I thought there was a good chance of getting passed, because Schumer called,
00:09:13and there's two other bills.
00:09:15So those two other bills and us were invited to Schumer's office to talk about moving the bill.
00:09:22And I thought there was good hope of getting it done.
00:09:24And I can't give you a reason why he didn't call it up for it.
00:09:29But he said, see at the end of the Senate.
00:09:31Now we have Thune, a new Republican, a new leader and a Republican majority.
00:09:37So I'm hoping to get something moving now on PBMs.
00:09:41And I'm hoping that Thune will bring it up, because the president talked about doing something about PBMs.
00:09:50So we ought to even have White House support.
00:09:53And more ridiculous, why it didn't come up in the last Congress,
00:09:56is between the Cantwell-Grassley bill and between the other two bills that are in,
00:10:03there was about 65 or 70 senators co-sponsoring one or the other.
00:10:08And so there's plenty of votes to get to 60-vote margin that it takes to stop debate to move a bill.
00:10:16By the way, there's, I'm chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and four or five bills,
00:10:23I think five bills was two weeks ago, voted out of committee.
00:10:28Now they're not as impressive on possibly bringing drugs down.
00:10:35Like the PDM bill would, but I'll give you one example of one of the bills.
00:10:44It's a Klobuchar-Grassley bill.
00:10:47It's called pay for delay.
00:10:49So let's say you were taking Eloquist, your life, for the heart and blood pressure, stuff like that.
00:10:56Okay, the patent runs out on 2022.
00:11:02They make a deal with the generic company.
00:11:04They pay the generic company to keep the drug off of the market until 2028.
00:11:10So you're paying the same high price you paid during the 12 years of patent protection, just as one example.
00:11:17I'm aware of that. You're right.
00:11:18Okay. Let's, uh, tax, anybody interested in a tax?
00:11:24Well, here, I'm going to call on everybody, but I'm going to go through this list of people that were complaining to me in Hampton.
00:11:34You didn't discuss any of these things.
00:11:37Anything interested in a tax bill?
00:11:39Yes, a tax bill.
00:11:42You're talking about the Senate budget resolution and reconciliation, is that you're referring to?
00:11:49But before you ask your question, let me explain that the budget just passed last week, and then the budget does not go to the president.
00:11:58That's just an internal congressional document that sets the stage for what you're going to ask me about.
00:12:04Right. I mean, it sets amounts that each committee is supposed to cut or budget, am I correct?
00:12:12Yeah. Now, if you're like a House member, and you look at the Senate, and we only have $1 billion for each committee,
00:12:20that doesn't mean we aren't going to cut more than $1 billion, but we just want to leave maximum leeway to the committee to decide how they're going to spend it.
00:12:31So go ahead with your question.
00:12:32The resolution basically supports, that you supported, extends and expands the tax cuts for the 2017 tax bill.
00:12:40And to extend those cuts, which largely go to the top 5% or so of people, they get something like 50% of the benefits from that tax bill.
00:12:50The resolution allows deficits to increase by $1.5 trillion under the Finance Committee's calculations,
00:12:57but that doesn't account for $4 trillion in costs of extending the tax cuts, bringing the actual cost around $5.3 trillion over 10 years.
00:13:10And this is from the Bipartisan Policy Center.
00:13:13And meanwhile, like the House resolution, the Senate resolution calls for $880 billion in cuts over 10 years from the Energy and Commerce Committee,
00:13:21which includes Medicare and Medicaid.
00:13:23And it also orders the Agriculture Committee to cut $230 billion among cuts from other committees while increasing funds for defense in other areas.
00:13:33And yet, after all those cuts, we still end up with trillions of deficits.
00:13:38How is this fiscally responsible, Senator, to extend these tax cuts when they're raising deficits and resulting in cuts to services that people need
00:13:49and giving benefits to the top 5% or so of taxpayers?
00:13:54Well, first of all, the last two items you mentioned are in the House part of it, not the Senate part of it.
00:14:03So you'll have to talk to your Congress people about that.
00:14:09But I can answer the tax part of it very easily.
00:14:12Because if the way the 2017 tax bill was passed, it was passed under this process of reconciliation.
00:14:26And you can't pass a tax bill, either increase or decrease, for more than 10 years unless you get 60 votes to do it.
00:14:38So we only had 51 or 52 votes in 2017.
00:14:44So it sunsets.
00:14:47It could go for two more years.
00:14:49But we sunset at December 31, 2025.
00:14:54So here's what's going to happen if we don't continue that tax policy into the future.
00:15:00You're going to have the biggest tax increase in the history of the country without even a vote of Congress
00:15:07because it sunsets.
00:15:09And so you just automatically go back to the tax levels prior to 2017.
00:15:15We can't let that happen because it would be the biggest tax increase on the middle class in the history of America.
00:15:23And it wouldn't give any more benefits to anybody than what they had in the 2017 tax bill.
00:15:31So it's very important that we keep the tax level where it is, which has been historically about 17% of all the gross national product of this country
00:15:46coming to the Congress of the United States at about 17% to 18% of all the economic activity in this country.
00:15:58So it keeps a tax policy that we've had in place for decades.
00:16:04Okay.
00:16:05Now, the next one would be...
00:16:08What do you mean?
00:16:09The next one would be border security.
00:16:14Ask a question.
00:16:17Can I ask a quick question?
00:16:18I understand holding that tax at what you're saying, but why aren't we doing more to make the billionaires pay more?
00:16:28Yes.
00:16:28Yeah.
00:16:33It might surprise you this.
00:16:39It might surprise you that the list of possibilities we have on our working sheet that the members of the finance committee,
00:16:53and I'm a member of that committee, are going to discuss, is raising from 37 to 39.6 on the very group of people you talk about.
00:17:04Now, that doesn't mean it's going to happen, but that means it's...
00:17:10And the rationale for it is that we can take that money and use it for increase in child tax credit.
00:17:22Well, you've got to take care of the tax loops, too.
00:17:25Now, anybody interested in border security?
00:17:28If they're not, we'll go on.
00:17:30You're interested in border security?
00:17:32Yes.
00:17:33I believe very strongly in my Christian faith.
00:17:41I preach on Sundays, and I believe very strongly in...
00:17:47We welcome the stranger.
00:17:50Because...
00:17:50We do the least of these we do to Jesus.
00:17:58And that is what we've been taught.
00:18:01And that is what the Gospel tells us.
00:18:03And I think turning away people who have come here for asylum is one of the most shameful things we are doing right here.
00:18:11I just want to know, for you as a senator, as my elected senator, is there anything you can do so that we can follow international law better, or just the ideals of our country to be a place of hope for others?
00:18:28Where they can come when they are searching for a home because they have no place else to go.
00:18:49Take down the status of us.
00:18:50Take down the status of liberty.
00:18:52Take down the status of liberty.
00:18:53Take down the status of liberty.
00:18:54There is everything that we can do legally under our laws.
00:18:57We welcome refugees, that's illegal status, and it's in red back.
00:19:07Senator Grassley, we're not right now.
00:19:10Just a minute, until it's quiet so I can hear you.
00:19:12Senator Grassley, right now we're not.
00:19:15I mean, right now we're not.
00:19:17These changes have been taking place, and that's what concerns people.
00:19:21There's no new process.
00:19:22It hurts.
00:19:22You're here.
00:19:23There's no new process.
00:19:25Yeah.
00:19:26Okay.
00:19:27So with law.
00:19:27I would welcome refugees, and I would welcome people who need a sign of it.
00:19:33Are you going to bring a guy back from El Salvador?
00:19:38Yeah.
00:19:38Yeah.
00:19:39Are you?
00:19:39Yeah.
00:19:40Yeah.
00:19:42Why not?
00:19:43Well, because that's not a power of a Congress.
00:19:47The Supreme Court said to bring him back.
00:19:49General Zanzar, at the present, has an upholding the Constitution.
00:19:54He's defunding the Constitution.
00:19:55You're on the Judiciary Committee.
00:19:57Trump don't care.
00:19:58If I get an order, and pay a ticket for $1,200, and I just say no, does that stand up?
00:20:05Because he's got an order from the Supreme Court, and he's just said no.
00:20:09Yeah.
00:20:10Yeah.
00:20:10Yeah.
00:20:10Screw it.
00:20:12I'll be able to answer your question.
00:20:14You ignored my letter.
00:20:17For El Salvador, it was an independent country.
00:20:23The president of that country is not subject to our U.S. Supreme Court.
00:20:30To cut one of them, bring him back.
00:20:33Let's get him, bring him back.
00:20:34Let's get him, bring him back.
00:20:34Let's get him, bring him back.
00:20:36I'm pissed.
00:20:38We're paying him to keep him down here.
00:20:40We don't have to pay him.
00:20:42Let's be civil.
00:20:43Why are we paying him to the houses?
00:20:44We don't have to pay for the next subject here.
00:20:47Excuse me, Senator.
00:20:49Senator, excuse me.
00:20:50On that same subject.
00:20:52Hey!
00:20:52Excuse me.
00:20:53Senator Grassley.
00:20:55On that same subject, the Constitution, the framers of the Constitution,
00:21:00said that every person, not citizen,
00:21:03every person within the jurisdiction of the United States has due process.
00:21:09Yes!
00:21:14We would like to know what you, as the people, the Congress,
00:21:18who are supposed to reign in this dictator,
00:21:20what are you going to do about it?
00:21:22These people have been sentenced to life imprisonment in a foreign country
00:21:26with no due process.
00:21:28Our government cannot do anything.
00:21:30Why won't you do your job, Senator?
00:21:38Get a smart name!
00:21:40Trump's not obeying the Supreme Court.
00:21:44He just ignores them.
00:21:45Yeah, screw it!
00:21:46He's doing it by the Constitution.
00:21:48I'm not going to be okay with that.
00:21:50You're rolling the fram, allowing it to happen.
00:21:52Senator Edson.
00:21:53What is a constitutional crisis?
00:21:55What does that consist of?
00:21:58A constitutional crisis exists when you have a president who ignores the Supreme Court.
00:22:09You have a Congress who fails to reign in a third branch of our government.
00:22:17That's right.
00:22:17Who is now violating our Constitution.
00:22:21You took an oath.
00:22:22I do solemnly swear or affirm.
00:22:24Do you remember that, sir?
00:22:26Yes, sir.
00:22:27That I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies,
00:22:31foreign and domestic.
00:22:32That I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same.
00:22:35that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion,
00:22:41and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of office of which I am about to enter.
00:22:47So help me God.
00:22:48Sir, will you act upon your oath?
00:22:51Yeah, I thought that I was...
00:22:53When I answered...
00:22:54I'll wait until the clapping's done.
00:22:58I thought when I answered this guy's question, I was doing what the Constitution requires.
00:23:03I'm trying to recapture the constitutional authority of Article 1, Section 8,
00:23:12one of the 18 powers of Congress to regulate interstate and foreign commerce
00:23:16by introducing the bill, which is a bipartisan bill,
00:23:20to make some of the mistakes that Democratic Congress has made in 1963.
00:23:26I said before.
00:23:32Congress as a whole...
00:23:34That's what I'm doing.
00:23:35Congress as a whole...
00:23:37Yeah.
00:23:37Bipartisan has the power to act...
00:23:40To bring...
00:23:42Can you wait until they...
00:23:44Be quiet.
00:23:45Congress as a whole, bipartisan, has the power to act to bring the executive branch to heal.
00:23:54Yes.
00:23:54Yes.
00:23:55And they're not doing it.
00:23:57Introducing a bill.
00:23:58Yes, that's one thing.
00:24:00But as a whole, the power of Congress to bring that executive branch to heal
00:24:07when they are behaving the way we're seeing,
00:24:11that power exists within you and your other members of Congress.
00:24:15Do you speak to your other persons in the House of Representatives of your party?
00:24:22Do you communicate with them often?
00:24:24Yes, sir.
00:24:24Do you discuss any of this with them?
00:24:28Do you hold any concern that Congress will be the next branch that Trump comes for
00:24:35because he is coming for the judiciary?
00:24:37The only tool that you know the Constitution gives Congress to do in regard to disciplining
00:24:49the executive branch is impeachment.
00:24:51And you missed that opportunity in his first administration.
00:24:54You had two opportunities for that.
00:24:57That was probably one of the only reasons we're having this situation now.
00:25:03The House initiates impeachment.
00:25:14Would you remember what I started with?
00:25:19I said that the way I conducted the meeting in Hampton, I was chastised before
00:25:28because I didn't allow anything other than people to complain about Trump.
00:25:33So I'm going to go through this list, and then we'll go back.
00:25:36Damn right!
00:25:38Is anybody interested in rural health care?
00:25:51Yes, we have none in Quebec.
00:25:55Who are you quoting that's interested?
00:25:59So this comes from a fellow named Randy Dillon, who is a senior tax partner at KPMG,
00:26:06who happened to be the tax preparer for both President Biden and Bob Dole.
00:26:12He asks...
00:26:13This is about rural health care.
00:26:14Yeah, yes.
00:26:1521% of islands are on Medicaid.
00:26:19And our rural hospital in Jefferson County Health Center derives 14% of its patient revenue
00:26:26from Medicaid.
00:26:27Will you vote for a reconciliation bill that damages the health of Iowans
00:26:35and makes health care less accessible?
00:26:3821% of Iowans has roughly 700,000 individuals, 250,000 children in a CHIPS program,
00:26:46and more than 300,000 Iowans receive SNAP benefits.
00:26:50My conversations with the head of our hospital through a meeting that we had with our representatives,
00:27:00rural hospitals are closing now under the current funding situation with hundreds of billions of dollars
00:27:12and leaving these programs that support local hospitals, support 21% of your constituents.
00:27:23I find that unconscionable, particularly with regards to...
00:27:30Elon Musk was asked, how much savings, quote unquote, if you can believe him, have you found?
00:27:35One hundred and twenty-five billion.
00:27:37The sources that I read say that the reduction in staff at the IRS and the knock-on effects of that
00:27:46are likely to cost the Treasury $500 billion of revenue coming in.
00:27:55So whatever the policy is, if people aren't honest with their tax returns
00:27:59because they know for darn sure they're not going to get audited,
00:28:04it's incomprehensible to a lot of us.
00:28:07And one of the reasons, I think, why you're feeling this, either quality of anger or strong feelings,
00:28:14is that we feel like much of what's happening simply does not make any logical sense.
00:28:21And we appreciate what you're doing, everything you can do, but I think we want you to do more.
00:28:28We want you to stand up more for all of us.
00:28:37We're going to save Medicaid, if there's any doubt about Medicaid, which was the point of his question.
00:28:47But also it gives me a chance to say that we'd have a lot less rural health care if I hadn't got adopted 25 years ago,
00:28:56the critical access hospital program.
00:29:00Okay.
00:29:01Okay.
00:29:02Now, any questions on veterans?
00:29:05Any questions on?
00:29:06Yes.
00:29:07Yes.
00:29:08Yes.
00:29:09Yes.
00:29:10Where's the back?
00:29:11Back here.
00:29:12I have a question on the health care.
00:29:13Okay.
00:29:14I was really sad to hear that it's going to take, what, two years for you to get my e-mail
00:29:16and what I sent you?
00:29:17And what I sent you?
00:29:18Darn it.
00:29:19Would you say about a year for people to...
00:29:22Would you say that?
00:29:23Would you start over again?
00:29:25I'm sorry.
00:29:26I have a...
00:29:27Let me back up.
00:29:28About two days ago I sent you a short e-mail, but I put three attachments with it.
00:29:32I write for an online site.
00:29:34My three were managed healthcare and then care facilities, not anymore, and then the fiasco
00:29:41of the health insurance industry.
00:29:44And there is so much fraud and abuse in there that I had to write those things.
00:29:49So that...
00:29:50And it's got...
00:29:51There's a lot of things that are going on in this part of the state even.
00:29:54And if they're going on here, I know they're going on other places in care facilities because
00:29:58I know people that work there.
00:29:59And I've done that kind of work myself.
00:30:01One gentleman, I called him gentleman, picked the lady up that had tried to get out of bed.
00:30:05She'd fallen.
00:30:06He picks her up and slams her in the bed and says, stay there.
00:30:09My goodness.
00:30:10And did he get fired for that or even say...
00:30:12Oh, no.
00:30:13They wrote a glowing report on him when he went to another facility because that's what they
00:30:17do they just pass them around.
00:30:19Instead...
00:30:20Maybe she doesn't have family that can help her.
00:30:22You know, can come in there and talk to her.
00:30:23She can't say to somebody that she's being mistreated, abused.
00:30:27So we've got to find a way.
00:30:29I know you care about that.
00:30:30I've followed you closely in what you do.
00:30:33But is there anything that Congress can do about this?
00:30:37About all the states?
00:30:39Sure.
00:30:40Some of the things that you have brought up, I brought up in my open hearings that we've
00:30:46had before the committee on that very subject.
00:30:50And we have federal laws guaranteeing quality care.
00:30:55It's administered by the 50 states separately.
00:30:59The federal government can step in and chastise the states if they aren't doing a good job of it.
00:31:05Do they get federal money or are they privately owned?
00:31:08Well, a lot of them are owned by hedge funds, which is a problem that I find.
00:31:14Yes, I think so.
00:31:15Because Congress is a power of the purse.
00:31:17People in it just to make a profit.
00:31:19Yes.
00:31:20That's not a problem.
00:31:21But about, I would guess, between Medicaid and Medicare, about 70%, maybe 80% of the average
00:31:31nursing home comes from those federal funds.
00:31:34Mm-hmm.
00:31:35So, and that's...
00:31:36That could be one thing to do.
00:31:38Well, that's the lever for...
00:31:40The laws that are on the books were passed during the Clinton administration.
00:31:45So, it's just a case of a Republican Democrat president since then and their secretary of
00:31:51HHS enforcing the law.
00:31:54Exactly.
00:31:55That's the problem.
00:31:56Because at one of these facilities, my daughter was taking her clinicals as a nurse.
00:32:00She fixed this woman's arm up, cleaned the wound, wrote her name and the time and date
00:32:05on the wound, on the bandage.
00:32:08When she came back, it was still there.
00:32:10A month later.
00:32:11So, she called the woman's son and the EMTs to come and get her because she was out of
00:32:17it.
00:32:18And so, they took her to Iowa City where they antiquated her arm and then she died later.
00:32:22That was a $2 million lawsuit.
00:32:24So, did they fire the director?
00:32:26No.
00:32:27Not at all.
00:32:28Because she came in drunk one night because somebody didn't show up.
00:32:31Yeah.
00:32:32Senator Grassley, I would like to ask about the cuts in SNAP benefits on the farm bill.
00:32:41Can we start over again?
00:32:42Yes.
00:32:43Senator Grassley, I would like to ask about any reduction in SNAP benefits that are going
00:32:47to be attached to the farm bill.
00:32:49I've heard there's been talk about them going back to pre-pandemic levels.
00:32:53I'd also like to know if you're planning on protecting the expansion of Medicaid benefits
00:32:58for Iowans under the ACA, the vouchers.
00:33:04If your answer is that possible, that that could happen, the answer is yes.
00:33:08Because it's one of the things that's listed on the agenda as a possibility of saving money.
00:33:16But there's no certainty at this point that that's what's going to happen.
00:33:21And it's going to be part of the farm bill and we haven't even started on the farm bill yet.
00:33:29I think she was asking if you're going to stand up for it.
00:33:32Are you going to support the cuts to the SNAP?
00:33:38Would you consider having for able-bodied people having work requirements?
00:33:45I work at a grocery store.
00:33:47I'm asking you, would you give me your opinion on a question I have that would be important
00:33:52for me to hear your opinion?
00:33:55Would you consider a work requirement for able-bodied people 30 to 59 years old to be, and that would save money?
00:34:05Would you consider that wrong?
00:34:07No, that sounds like waste, fraud, and abuse.
00:34:09No.
00:34:10Okay.
00:34:11That sounds like waste, for sure.
00:34:12We're glad to hear that.
00:34:14Human is able-bodied.
00:34:15Yeah.
00:34:16Yeah.
00:34:17They said it was going to cost more to oversee that program.
00:34:21Are you going to decrease that?
00:34:22I don't care if they can afford until they can afford to go to work.
00:34:26Okay, the next thing you hear is national security.
00:34:29Anybody hear it?
00:34:31No, I've called on you on us.
00:34:33I've got questions.
00:34:35There's one thing I think that you could do without having to introduce a bill or do anything else,
00:34:40is to stand up for the people in this country.
00:34:44Yes.
00:34:45We've all paid into our social securities.
00:34:47Yes.
00:34:48Our employers paid into it.
00:34:50We paid into Medicare.
00:34:51Stop the use of the word entitlement.
00:34:54That would be one step that if you just use the right language, this is not an entitlement.
00:35:01We're not getting this because we exist.
00:35:04We're getting it because of the faith we put in the country, the treasury, every legislator, that we would pay into our social security.
00:35:13We would have it when we retired.
00:35:15We paid into Medicare.
00:35:16All of our employers and self-employed people paid double.
00:35:21They paid the employer part.
00:35:24So farmers, anybody who did this, so stop the use of the word entitlement because it's insulting to all of us.
00:35:33Earned benefit.
00:35:34Every single person elected to Congress should stop the use of that word and insist that it not be used.
00:35:43It's an earned benefit.
00:35:44It's an earned benefit.
00:35:45It's an earned benefit.
00:35:46It's an earned benefit.
00:35:47It's an earned benefit.
00:35:48It's an earned benefit.
00:35:49It's an earned benefit.
00:35:50It's 30 years old.
00:35:51The 59 has to prove that they're working, that they're worth the benefits they get.
00:35:56But we can't talk about taxing the ultra-rich.
00:35:59Yeah.
00:36:00Because we might be losing money on somebody that's getting food stamps in a town like this.
00:36:06Where are they going to work?
00:36:07How are they going to prove-
00:36:08You've got to have jobs.
00:36:09That they have a job and the transportation to go get a job.
00:36:14Child care.
00:36:15I think the general population is sick and tired of hearing about the tax cuts for the wealthy.
00:36:21Yes.
00:36:22The ultra-wealthy, the uber rich, whatever you want to call them.
00:36:25When you start nitpicking about whether some single mom or single dad or somebody with somebody in prison is getting $70 too much food stamps that doesn't even buy you anything at the grocery store.
00:36:38Okay.
00:36:49If you're asking me if we're going to cut Social Security, no.
00:36:54And I wouldn't hope that you'd even worry about that when you have both Biden and Trump running the campaign that we're not going to cut Social Security.
00:37:06I asked if you could stop using the word entitlement, admit that we paid into it, and just fund it fully.
00:37:12And do whatever taxing you have to do at the top.
00:37:16Exactly.
00:37:17Yes.
00:37:18Yes.
00:37:19Why should somebody reach $200,000, $250,000 a year and say I don't have to pay Social Security taxes on that anymore when I have to pay it for every dime I ever earned because I never earned over that amount.
00:37:31Yeah.
00:37:32So fund Social Security.
00:37:33Raise a cap.
00:37:34Yeah.
00:37:35Get rid of black credit for related, Senator.
00:37:38Simple question.
00:37:39Stop using it as a slash fund.
00:37:40She's asking me to not use the word entitlement.
00:37:43That's a pretty good request from any constituent.
00:37:47Okay.
00:37:48Okay.
00:37:49Okay.
00:37:50Stop privatizing it.
00:37:53Anybody here, I suppose if you aren't agriculture people you wouldn't be interested in this, but biofuels?
00:38:00Anybody?
00:38:01I have a question on that.
00:38:02Anybody interested in biofuels?
00:38:04No.
00:38:05Okay.
00:38:06I'm interested in reconciliation and solar.
00:38:09Okay.
00:38:10Now.
00:38:11Senator, reconciliation.
00:38:12Now it's open for questions.
00:38:15Who that hasn't, you've asked the question, you've asked the question, who hasn't asked the question?
00:38:21Me.
00:38:22You haven't asked.
00:38:23Senator, my wife is the record keeper and the check writer and the bill payer and she's concerned about the increased costs on credit cards,
00:38:35everything seems to be jumping up and I understand that we have something coming up that has to do with that.
00:38:52The overcharging on credit cards and bill paying and that sort of thing.
00:38:58The overcharging.
00:38:59Overcharging.
00:39:00Overcharging.
00:39:01Overcharging.
00:39:02Overcharging.
00:39:03Overcharging.
00:39:04I'm not sure I can answer your question because I'm on the banking committee.
00:39:09Okay.
00:39:10But there is, there's bills in on putting a limit on credit cards.
00:39:19There's bills in on some of these charges that banks put on and things of that nature but I couldn't even give you a prospect.
00:39:31It had to do with bipartisan supported credit card competition act about swipe fees to reduce, okay, so those are the things.
00:39:41That's more, that's more prominent.
00:39:43Okay.
00:39:44I can give you an answer on that.
00:39:46So the, the Casey's, the Hy-Vee's and stuff like that that take a lot of credit cards, they want that bill passed.
00:39:56And the credit unions and the banks do not want to pass.
00:39:59Okay.
00:40:00And all this would, this would basically do this.
00:40:03Now there's two companies that have most of the business and this would just allow people that accept credit cards to seek two or three or four other places that maybe they could get it done cheaper.
00:40:20And, but the, the problem with that bill moving is this, that it, it's, it's not talked about very often.
00:40:32And, and the banking committee's really divided on it.
00:40:38I don't know whether it'll get out of committee or not.
00:40:40Do you support it?
00:40:41But, I'm going to wait until a bill gets out of committee because I don't have, have any way of knowing what it looks like.
00:40:49Before it gets out.
00:40:51I got you.
00:40:52What about the same thing?
00:40:53Theoretically, what would you support on it?
00:40:54I would like to say that.
00:40:55Yeah.
00:40:56Do we have any other questions?
00:40:57Yes.
00:40:58All right.
00:40:59Given that during the confirmation hearings, Kennedy, who is in charge of our Medicare and Medicaid, made the statement that everybody wants Medicare privatized, which is a lie.
00:41:12Yeah.
00:41:13Where do you stand on this?
00:41:14We aren't going to, you can stop there.
00:41:17We are now are giving money.
00:41:19There's money going to go out to the people that are doing Medicare Advantage.
00:41:24That is privatization of Medicare.
00:41:26Yes.
00:41:27That's right.
00:41:28And we don't want it.
00:41:29Okay.
00:41:30And they take advantage of people all the time.
00:41:31But 50% of the seniors do want it because of.
00:41:33No, they don't want it.
00:41:34No.
00:41:35No.
00:41:36No.
00:41:37Okay.
00:41:38Let me explain why I said 50%.
00:41:4050% of the seniors are enrolled in Medicare Advantage.
00:41:45Because, no, that doesn't mean they want it.
00:41:48They've got to come.
00:41:49They've got a choice.
00:41:50They don't want it.
00:41:51They don't want it.
00:41:52They don't want it.
00:41:53They don't want it.
00:41:54They don't want it.
00:41:55Insurance companies are then controlling you.
00:41:57And they'll tell you that you must call in every year because they can change the rules,
00:42:02whatever they want to do.
00:42:03And they get X amount of dollars.
00:42:05And when your dollars are used up, you're done with their Medicare.
00:42:08I want it the way it is and so do most of the people.
00:42:11And the SHIP people that help people get their Medicare are driving and rightfully telling
00:42:17them to stay away from Medicare Advantage.
00:42:19It's a privatization.
00:42:20It's a rip-off.
00:42:21And we don't want it.
00:42:23And not 50% of the people want it.
00:42:25And Kennedy's saying that.
00:42:27If 50% of the people that are over 65 don't want it, why do they enroll in it?
00:42:37Because the insurance companies love me three and four times a day to try and sell it
00:42:42to you and say that they are actually Medicare calling you.
00:42:45And they're not.
00:42:46They don't want to pay the credit.
00:42:48Medicare Advantage has nothing to do with the federal government.
00:42:51Is that correct?
00:42:52You have your hand up, sir.
00:42:53Iowa says if you're not...
00:42:55You're not going to answer him?
00:42:57You're not going to answer him?
00:42:59He's asked questions.
00:43:00What are the questions?
00:43:02Okay.
00:43:04Yeah.
00:43:05Yeah.
00:43:06No.
00:43:07Be safe.
00:43:08If you're proud of voting for Trump and what he's doing in office.
00:43:13Are you proud about everything he's doing right now?
00:43:15I kid you.
00:43:16I...
00:43:17I...
00:43:18There's no president that I've agreed with 100%.
00:43:21I didn't say that.
00:43:22I said...
00:43:23Are you proud that he's in there?
00:43:25Well, first of all, Senator Grassley, I want to thank you for coming today because...
00:43:29Yes.
00:43:30Yes.
00:43:31...our representative Miller-Meech seems to be hiding in a closet.
00:43:33Yes.
00:43:34Yes.
00:43:35Yes.
00:43:36Yes.
00:43:37I have a concern about the veterans.
00:43:38I have a concern about the veterans and the pets that they are proposing to do,
00:43:53one of which is de-staffing the crisis hotline for veterans.
00:43:59Eighteen veterans commit suicide every single day in this history.
00:44:04My husband is a veteran.
00:44:06He has been exposed to Agent Orange, and his health is very poor because of that.
00:44:15And he has actually said out loud he wished he could die at times,
00:44:21and he has had to go through PTSD counseling I cannot tell you how many times.
00:44:26So I do not understand how the Republican Party can say,
00:44:30we support our veterans when they are going to do something like cut the crisis hotline.
00:44:36That is unacceptable.
00:44:38That is just, it's unbelievable to even think that they would do that.
00:44:41This is something that veterans rely on.
00:44:43They are cutting staff, and a lot of that staff that is being cut is PTSD counselors.
00:44:49So my question is, what is your plan to assure that the veteran hotline remains staffed adequately,
00:44:58and that veterans are supported rather than harmed by Republican legislation?
00:45:02When Congressman Boswell was in Congress from Southwest Iowa,
00:45:09and this would go back to about 2008 or 2009, I believe,
00:45:15he and I sponsored the first 800 number for veterans to call,
00:45:20and the reason we did it was because of the person in Grundy Center, Iowa,
00:45:25that committed suicide in front of his mother in the kitchens,
00:45:31and we named the bill after that veteran as an example.
00:45:37So that ought to tell you that I'm for maintaining the...
00:45:40But what are you going to do about that as far as, you know, proposing legislation
00:45:45or talking to the other members of Congress or the president and saying this is wrong.
00:45:52These cuts are wrong.
00:45:53We have to support our veterans.
00:45:54They need more help rather than...
00:45:57They cut...
00:45:58They want to cut 83,000 employees.
00:46:00Yeah, yeah.
00:46:01And they cut...
00:46:02In the first five weeks of Trump when he fired all those federal employees,
00:46:076,000 of those employees that were fired were veterans.
00:46:11And a lot of the veterans...
00:46:13Many veterans are the ones that manage those hotline calls.
00:46:18And so are they getting fired too?
00:46:21Who's going to answer these calls?
00:46:23These men and women serve our country.
00:46:27They put their lives on the line.
00:46:33I have a question in reference...
00:46:35I hope I answered your question by saying...
00:46:38We appreciate your support, but we want to know what you can do to stop this legislation.
00:46:48I can do everything you suggested in your question.
00:46:52Senator...
00:46:53Hey!
00:46:53We're talking about the SAVE Act.
00:46:54Have you had a question?
00:46:55Yes.
00:46:56Go ahead.
00:46:56I was going to ask about the SAVE Act.
00:46:59Yes.
00:47:00What's your opinion?
00:47:01And do you support it or you're against it?
00:47:03Which one?
00:47:04The SAVE Act.
00:47:05Well, first explain it.
00:47:07Well, it won't allow me to vote.
00:47:09I'll have to go get a passport because my birth name is not my current name, last name.
00:47:19You have not heard of that?
00:47:21Yes, I have heard of it.
00:47:22And every lawyer I've talked to that's been involved with that legislation says it'd be ridiculous to think that women can't vote.
00:47:33I spoke to the SAVE Act and the SAVE Act is a state's office.
00:47:37Obviously, I would want you to be able to vote.
00:47:40And before the bill passes in the United States Senate, we'll guarantee you that that's not part of it.
00:47:45I don't expect this bill to come up in the United States Senate because it's going to require 60 votes to bring it up.
00:47:51But if it does come up, I would see that my wife would be able to vote just like you want to vote.
00:47:59It's going to pass in the House, isn't it?
00:48:01It did pass in the House.
00:48:02It already passed in the House.
00:48:03Like, 2-16 to 2-3-5.
00:48:04Senator, Senator.
00:48:07I have another question.
00:48:09Can I finish?
00:48:11I'm a rarity here.
00:48:13I'm a happy Republican.
00:48:14I want to thank you personally for something you did for my father.
00:48:19My father was a World War II veteran from the Navy, and he was a Korean War decorated Marine veteran.
00:48:27And about 20 years ago, he had shrapnel still in his knee, and it was causing him trouble.
00:48:32He wanted to get surgery.
00:48:33And the Veterans Administration wouldn't give him coverage.
00:48:36We applied and applied and applied and applied, and we couldn't get it.
00:48:40So I contacted your office, and they told me that you would look into the matter personally.
00:48:45And they got a letter back saying that you had looked into the matter personally and that my father would be covered.
00:48:51And we've had the greatest benefits for the last 20 years that a person could ask for.
00:48:56He got all the coverage he needed, got everything, ramps, equipment for handles, and passed away three weeks ago at 97.
00:49:05And I want you to know he was a strong supporter, and he lived long enough to vote for you again.
00:49:15Senator.
00:49:15I don't want to tell all of you something that would help veterans in the future.
00:49:24The Senate just set up a program for each senator to be able to have what we call a veteran fellow.
00:49:33So I have hired Clayton Brown to do that.
00:49:37He works out of my Des Moines office.
00:49:40Of course, you can go to any of my offices to get help like you got for your dad, but this guy is concentrating just on veterans' issues.
00:49:49So if you know somebody that needs some help from the...
00:49:52Well, veterans need the hospitals now to be staffed.
00:49:55If you...
00:49:56Brown.
00:49:57Can you hear me now?
00:49:59Yes.
00:49:59Okay.
00:50:01Anybody that needs help from the VA, it would be nice if you correct them to...
00:50:07Okay.
00:50:07Will do, sir.
00:50:09Senator.
00:50:09Senator.
00:50:10I have emailed you and sent several messages.
00:50:14My name is Teresa Potter.
00:50:15We've got to do something about the toxic chemical drift overspray.
00:50:2020...
00:50:21It was 18 horses, dead horses.
00:50:23It's up to 21.
00:50:24Today, I live out in the country, 70 mile per hour wind gusts.
00:50:28By law, Iowa law, they're supposed to not spray over 70 mile per hour.
00:50:34I have got serious heart issues.
00:50:35Our farm dog had a huge tumor until it was all these horses, and I've got very few left.
00:50:40Why is the law enforcement...
00:50:42They're told...
00:50:43Law enforcement is told they're responsible.
00:50:45I have called Gretchen Bullock, she knows my name by heart, everybody up there I've called.
00:50:50And they came down, they tested it, tested positive.
00:50:54Veltemar is one of them, one of the most worst things you could have.
00:50:56I won't live another five years to talk about some of these.
00:50:59And all those dead horses, and to watch them die of cruel, painful death.
00:51:04Kidneys, liver, lung, brain.
00:51:06They're laying on their sides, running and weaning.
00:51:09And there is laws there, but they're not being enforced.
00:51:13At state level, they're blaming the sheriff.
00:51:16And I don't feel it's his...
00:51:18You know, it's not his fault.
00:51:20Who is responsible to enforce these laws?
00:51:22All they have to do is shut down and spray them for a while, because we've got to live too.
00:51:26And I understand farmers, I've lived out by them forever.
00:51:29But this is ridiculous.
00:51:30Eighteen horses and they're still breaking the law.
00:51:33It is sad.
00:51:35I want help.
00:51:37I've got grandkids.
00:51:39You know what one farmer told me?
00:51:41He's got grandkids.
00:51:42I have a little 15-acre farm in the middle of prime farm ground.
00:51:46He told me there's lots and lots of nice parks around.
00:51:49I've lived there 21 years by myself as a widow.
00:51:53And I want my grandkids to play where I've worked my tail off and had some of the finest horses that you've ever seen.
00:52:00Five are world record miniature horses.
00:52:03And they still won't obey the law.
00:52:05And I can't get anybody to enforce the law.
00:52:07I called the governor's office.
00:52:08I get thrown in jail.
00:52:09Now, Grandma, I had my autistic grandson that day.
00:52:13But that wasn't fun.
00:52:14I'm tired of my rights being brought.
00:52:15I have no civil rights.
00:52:17I'm scared to call the sheriff's office and get arrested.
00:52:19And I like these guys.
00:52:20They're friendly.
00:52:21But this has got to stop.
00:52:22And it involves everybody, not just me.
00:52:24I don't think people realize what the chemicals are doing and how bad they are.
00:52:28And to our water as well.
00:52:29It's better than the nation.
00:52:31Our water.
00:52:32It's awful.
00:52:33And the state has tested.
00:52:34When the state comes down, they're not time orderly.
00:52:37You know, there's no, it's a joke is what it is.
00:52:40And I'll tell you one thing.
00:52:41When Gretchen had the state investor come down, they said it tested negative or anything.
00:52:46The state climatologist had another report.
00:52:49He pegged each farmer and he said what they sprayed.
00:52:52And the spraying company, they held him responsible.
00:52:55Got slapped on the hand.
00:52:56No fine.
00:52:57No nothing.
00:52:58They didn't have to pay $35.
00:53:00It's up to my job to get a lawyer to sue him.
00:53:02I've been sick with my heart.
00:53:04And I just want us to be safe.
00:53:06I want this for everybody.
00:53:08I want everybody safe.
00:53:09And these chemicals are bad.
00:53:12So I would like something done.
00:53:14Put me in a safe house.
00:53:16I begged.
00:53:17I called up there just to get my horses safe.
00:53:19I traveled all over.
00:53:20And that was expensive.
00:53:21It took every dime I had.
00:53:22I've got two horses that went to Ames twice.
00:53:24So it was $5,000 each time, each horse.
00:53:27But they lived.
00:53:28Thank God.
00:53:29But then today they're out there with that spray going again.
00:53:32Just going real fast.
00:53:33I got notified.
00:53:34And I asked.
00:53:35I said, would you please let me know before you spray?
00:53:37So I can put the horses away and put the kids and myself.
00:53:40These are from chemicals that burn.
00:53:43One little horse lost his eye.
00:53:44It's trembled up from those chemicals.
00:53:47And he's still alive.
00:53:49I don't know.
00:53:50I just would like something done.
00:53:53I've had horses my entire life.
00:53:54I don't want to have to get rid of them.
00:53:56You shouldn't have to.
00:53:57I shouldn't have to.
00:53:58And I shouldn't have to go to a public park when I have a nice little farm myself.
00:54:01I work too hard to have it.
00:54:05So I don't know what to do.
00:54:07I'm going to say one thing.
00:54:08This wouldn't happen to a man.
00:54:10And I have to go to a man.
00:54:12The EPA.
00:54:15The EPA needs to do a job.
00:54:18But they're being cut.
00:54:20They're being cut.
00:54:21They're blaming the sheriff and it's not the sheriff's responsibility.
00:54:25He's got enough stuff to do.
00:54:27They need to take over and do their job.
00:54:29Hey, hang on.
00:54:31He's got a question right here.
00:54:32The EPA oversees the state enforcement.
00:54:38So if the state isn't doing it, the EPA can step in.
00:54:43Right.
00:54:43Will they step in?
00:54:44Yeah, that's...
00:54:45They have it.
00:54:46They have it.
00:54:48I'm going to throw one more thing.
00:54:4918 dead horses and no news media picks us up.
00:54:52Isn't that a lot?
00:54:53It was all shut up.
00:54:55Oh, I can't.
00:54:56One of the figures.
00:54:57Oh, he knows you ain't.
00:54:59Come on out.
00:55:00Tell y'all the police.
00:55:00Question in the back.
00:55:02Senator?
00:55:03Question in the back.
00:55:04Veteran.
00:55:05Veteran right here.
00:55:06Senator.
00:55:07There's a veteran.
00:55:08I'm going to get up.
00:55:09I'm going to listen.
00:55:10Senator Grassley, thank you for taking the time to come to Southeast Iowa today.
00:55:14Senator Grassley, one of the very few Republicans currently in the room here.
00:55:19Oh, I am.
00:55:21Listen, I know your roots in Iowa run deep, and I'm proud to be from a state that values justice,
00:55:27common sense, and the Constitution.
00:55:30But today I'm here to talk about something happening just across the border in Wisconsin.
00:55:35Something that should concern every American who believes in due process, free speech, and
00:55:41the Second Amendment.
00:55:42Matthew Hoover, a husband, a father, and a YouTuber, known as CRS Firearms, was sentenced
00:55:50to five years in federal prison, not for building or selling a machine gun, but for talking about
00:55:57a piece of metal with a design on it.
00:56:01Let me be clear.
00:56:02He didn't manufacture a weapon.
00:56:05He didn't sell a functioning part.
00:56:07He didn't incite violence.
00:56:09He shared a drawing on a YouTube channel.
00:56:13Let me repeat that.
00:56:15He shared a drawing on a YouTube channel, and he got five years in federal prison.
00:56:22The item, an auto key card, is a novelty.
00:56:27A protest item, it's not functional.
00:56:30You cannot use it as a weapon unless you intentionally modify it.
00:56:34And even then, it's been proven unreliable and ineffective.
00:56:39Honestly, it just doesn't work, and the ATF tested the hell out of it.
00:56:43To prove it didn't work.
00:56:45They put him in prison anyway.
00:56:47But the ATF and the Biden DOJ didn't care.
00:56:50They made an example out of him.
00:56:52They didn't prosecute a crime.
00:56:54They prosecuted a man who criticized them.
00:56:56And because he dared to use his platform to speak out, he's now in federal prison, separated from his wife and children.
00:57:05Senator, we've seen this movie before.
00:57:07Vague laws weaponized by unelected bureaucrats to target political dissent.
00:57:12We've seen what happens when agencies like the ATF are allowed to reinterpret the law on a whim.
00:57:18Senator Grassley, you've always stood up for the Constitution, gun owners' rights, and most importantly, due process.
00:57:26But this case isn't just about policy, it's about precedent.
00:57:30If a man can go to prison for sharing a drawing, where does it stop?
00:57:35What happens when any of us say something the government doesn't like?
00:57:43I was in jail today.
00:57:45This isn't justice, it's retribution.
00:57:48And the damage it's done to Mr. Hoover's family, to his wife and his children, is something the Constitution was written to prevent.
00:57:56Senator, I am not here asking for curiosity.
00:57:59I don't want you to ask questions about it.
00:58:02I'm not asking you to even look into it.
00:58:04I'm asking you to use your influence, work with the President and his administration, and get this man out of prison.
00:58:11Well, let's get a lot of people out of prison.
00:58:14This is one example, and you're an example of him.
00:58:17I thought women haven't been made examples of all kinds of things.
00:58:20This is your moment.
00:58:22Question back here.
00:58:23When you were saying it, writers back.
00:58:26I'm almost done.
00:58:28This is your moment to take a stand.
00:58:30Not just to question what happened, but to demand that it be made right.
00:58:34Matt Hoover does not belong in prison.
00:58:37If this case is allowed to stand, we're all one step closer to a country where dissent is criminal.
00:58:43Amen.
00:58:43You know that?
00:58:44You know that?
00:58:45You know that?
00:58:45You can thank Trump for that.
00:58:48We're living it now.
00:58:49We got people in our sense.
00:58:51And where speech is punished.
00:58:53Yep.
00:58:53I'd ask you to use your voice and your reputation to demand justice for Matt Hoover, CRS Firearms, as he was known on YouTube, before he was sentenced to five years for sharing a drawing.
00:59:04The country needs it, his children need it, and the Constitution demands it.
00:59:08Thank you for your time, Senator.
00:59:09Senator, you've got time for one more quick question.
00:59:23Answer in the back.
00:59:24Answer in the back.
00:59:25Hey.
00:59:26Answer in the back.
00:59:26Answer in the back.
00:59:28There it is.
00:59:28But before I ask my question, just understand the importance, or at least my view of the importance of asking this question,
00:59:36because I've asked your office this question, and I've gotten a response, but I didn't actually get an answer.
00:59:42I went to your last town hall, but I only showed up an hour early, and the venue didn't have enough people.
00:59:49I drove two and a half hours to get there and didn't get to any.
00:59:53And I also understand I took a day of leave that day because you don't have town halls during times when people are at home.
01:00:03You have them when we're at work, during the work week.
01:00:07And I had to take leave today in order to get the answer, or at least pose the question to you.
01:00:13So that, to me, is my criticism of your venues that you choose, because you choose small venues like this.
01:00:21And I do thank you for actually having a town hall.
01:00:23Don't misunderstand it.
01:00:25But I do criticize your venues and your choice of time, because, to me, you have them during the day when either, A, you get people that are unemployed,
01:00:37or, B, people that are retired, people with day jobs, maybe people that work the night shift.
01:00:42But my question is in reference to this, sir, is understand I'm a U.S. Army retired officer.
01:00:49And I retired in 2017, and I started working at the VA.
01:00:56And this year, after the inauguration, thus far, I've seen our president.
01:01:01He's put forth executive orders.
01:01:04The first one being, I work, I telework.
01:01:07And without reason or cause, he abolished all teleworking.
01:01:11That adds either a half an hour or an hour, because I work in Iowa City at the VA hospital.
01:01:16That hour adds an hour to my day going, because driving there takes a half an hour, because I live a half an hour away,
01:01:24and then another half an hour to take a bus to get to the hospital, because if you've ever been to Iowa City,
01:01:28I went to the University of Iowa and graduated.
01:01:31It takes a half an hour to get from your parking place to the location where you're either working or if you're taking classes.
01:01:37And that would add two hours every day for me.
01:01:42I would work four days every week, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday at home, and I would work in the hospital Friday.
01:01:51So now, because no reason that I know of other than your fellow Iowa senator who pushed the narrative that the people that work for the government
01:02:02are lazy and are sucking the tax dollars from the American people, and it pisses me off as a veteran and as an employee of the VA at the hospital there.
01:02:13But after that, we got an email from OPM, the Office of Professional Management, or whatever.
01:02:21We got an email very similar to the email that Musk sent Twitter, the fork in the road, and it said,
01:02:29you can resign now and get paid until September, or you can just keep working, but we can't guarantee your job here.
01:02:38And that went out to every single federal employee in the executive branch.
01:02:44I know it went out to some of the judicial branch people, but it didn't apply because they don't fall underneath it.
01:02:49And how many staffers do you have here?
01:02:52I'm sure they didn't get it because they're not in the executive branch.
01:02:56But all of us, GS and wage-grade employees that work in the federal government, we got that.
01:03:02So I could have resigned.
01:03:03I didn't see a lot of intelligence being put into that because, basically, we did have people resign
01:03:10because some of them were probationary employees.
01:03:13And the probationary employees, if you remember, were the first ones to get fired for cause.
01:03:18But it was done illegally.
01:03:21And they got fired.
01:03:23One of my fellow workers, she resigned so she could get paid until September, which doesn't make sense to me.
01:03:30How are you being efficient, you know, when you're letting all these people go home?
01:03:35And they don't work.
01:03:36They stay on the books, so we can't hire anybody to replace them.
01:03:39And there's a hiring freeze, so we can't hire anybody for 90 days after that.
01:03:46But also, after that, they did fire the probationary employees, which I found to be very troubling
01:03:54because, as my understanding, it's illegal because they fired them for cause.
01:03:58The AFGE, the American Federation of Government Employees, the union for the employees at the hospital here,
01:04:06at the VA in Iowa City, they took them to court, and they won.
01:04:11But shortly after that win, they had to hire those people back, is my understanding,
01:04:16because even at the hospital here, they got fired.
01:04:19They got let go, which decreased the staffing there.
01:04:23And as a veteran, it pissed me off.
01:04:26But after that, the president put out an executive order nullifying the collective bargaining agreement,
01:04:35basically the contract that the federal workers have protecting them from being similarly fired for no reason whatsoever,
01:04:44which I find, to me, I'm like, you just dissolved my protections as a federal employee,
01:04:49and you're dissolving it for all the people that are working at the VA hospital there.
01:04:55I'm a veteran.
01:04:56I go there for medical service.
01:04:58I find it highly suspect, and I believe it's illegal.
01:05:02But I haven't heard anything from any of my senators, my two senators, and any of the house reps,
01:05:08the four that are here in Iowa, the one that works for me,
01:05:11because I've asked all their offices, both you, Ernst, and Miller Meats, and heard nothing from them.
01:05:21I understand impeachment, but impeachment not just of the president and power of the purse
01:05:26is one of the other things that Congress can do.
01:05:30But you don't have to impeach the president.
01:05:32You can impeach others.
01:05:34You can impeach any of the people within the cabinet, is my understanding.
01:05:38Maybe I haven't read the Constitution as much as you have,
01:05:41and maybe I don't understand it because I don't speak the old stuff.
01:05:45But when you have a president who puts in an executive order
01:05:48and somehow he removes my working privileges as a labor union employee,
01:05:56and he does it under the auspice of national security,
01:05:59because when you read the executive order, it says national security.
01:06:02And, I mean, I'm just a retired major from the U.S. Army with a master's in homeland security.
01:06:08I don't think my job as a clerk in the business office of the VA constitutes something
01:06:14that needs to not have protections as a labor person because of national security.
01:06:21I used to work in a vault, but maybe I don't understand it.
01:06:24I'm not the president.
01:06:25But my question to you is what do you think, because I see it as illegal,
01:06:34and I see my representatives, the people that are paid to represent all of these people,
01:06:40because Iowa, as a senator, the majority of people here are not registered Democrats.
01:06:45The majority is not registered Republicans.
01:06:48The majority is not registered anything else.
01:06:52They're Iowans, and your job is to represent all of them.
01:06:58And I'm getting sick and tired.
01:07:04Because, like I said, to me, I'm like, I hear com zero, as they say in the military,
01:07:10or nothing from any of them.
01:07:12They're willing to let him do it, whatever he wants, as POTUS.
01:07:17But some of the things he's doing are illegal.
01:07:19Yes.
01:07:21They're illegal.
01:07:22In the past, I try to make myself understanding of what's going on,
01:07:29and I engage with the politicians that are elected to represent me.
01:07:33I don't want the job, but I do engage with them because, to me, they need to be held accountable.
01:07:39And right now, I don't see them being held accountable, because they seem to represent the party, the power, and the president.
01:07:48And the way our system of government, as the Constitution says, there's three branches of government.
01:07:54Judicial, legislative, and executive branch.
01:07:57And your job is not to make sure he gets everything in his agenda done, whether or not he's a Republican or he's a Democrat.
01:08:05Your job is to represent every Iowan in here, if they're not Iowans.
01:08:11I don't know about that.
01:08:15Do your job.
01:08:16And I say that, my question was basically, what are you going to do about it?
01:08:21Because I find it to be illegal.
01:08:23An illegal executive order.
01:08:24And I've heard people say, well, that's for the court to decide.
01:08:28The problem being, though, is that he fired people.
01:08:32That didn't work.
01:08:33So he got rid of the collective bargaining agreement that protected those people that he fired.
01:08:39So now, where's my course of action?
01:08:41If he gets rid of the union, which is the group that took him to court.
01:08:44I don't have a lot of money.
01:08:45I can't take him to court if I lose my job, because he wants to fire me for cause, even if I don't have cause.
01:08:50So what are you doing about it?
01:08:53That's my question.
01:08:54I know it took a long time, and we're past our time here, and I apologize.
01:08:58But I took the whole day off.
01:09:06I'm going to answer your question, and then I want to answer this criticism you gave about how I hold these meetings.
01:09:13I don't need an answer on that, because I've complained about it before.
01:09:16I've complained about it to all my representatives, and that's how they do business.
01:09:22The courts are the arbiter in this, and some of them have stood against the president, and some of them have stood with the president.
01:09:31But in one case that you brought up about the probationary, the Supreme Court made a decision that he had the constitutional authority or the power to do that under the law or under the Constitution.
01:09:46He has the power to do that, sir, but what the courts didn't address is the fact that he fired them for cause, which it was not untrue.
01:10:00For 45 years, I've been doing my county meetings this way.
01:10:08Some open town meetings like this last year, there were 33 of the counties had open town meetings.
01:10:17I went to about 10 high schools because kids under 18 years of age never come to a meeting like this.
01:10:26For the people that work, I go to either businesses or factories, and in the factories, if they'll shut down their assembly line and let people gather around me on the floor, I have a Q&A with those employees.
01:10:43I go to two or three hospitals a year for the reason that hospital people can't come, and I've been doing it this way for 45 years, and over the course of going to high schools, open town meetings, yesterday there was a Farm Bureau County had me in for their members and hospitals and all those things.
01:11:07I hope I get a cross-section of the population, but if I don't get a cross-section of the population, when you add it to the emails I get, already in three months, we got more emails than all of last year, as an example.
01:11:24As an example.
01:11:27And that's the way we do it.
01:11:29Now, I thank all of you for coming.
01:11:32I'm on my next meeting up to Burlington.
01:11:37You and the media are going to come back here.