Senator Grassley Discusses Challenges Facing the Senate as They Go Back in Session

To get his economic plan through the Senate, President Bush will be depending, in part, on Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa. As Republicans take over the Senate, Grassley will take over the Senate Finance Committee. And he joins us now.

Senator, welcome.

Senator CHARLES GRASSLEY (Republican, Iowa): I'm glad to be with you, Steve.

INSKEEP: Still a very closely divided Senate, although Republicans control it now. How much is possible for your party to accomplish?

Sen. GRASSLEY: Well, I think the expectation is, as a result of the last election, that we accomplish everything that we promised in the last election. On the other hand, the reality is nothing gets through the United States Senate that's not bipartisan. So it depends upon the extent to which Democrats want to cooperate with us and the extent to which we as Republicans work for that bipartisanship. And I think if we work for bipartisanship and as long as the Democrats aren't obstinate to the last Democrat, I think we can get enough votes to get a bipartisan bill through.

INSKEEP: Senator, yesterday on this program, we heard from Congressman Jim Leach of Iowa, your Republican colleague in the House of Representatives, and he was saying that whatever President Bush proposes and pushes for as far as improving the economy, if it's something that appears to bring benefit to everybody, it's likely to pass and it's likely to be good for the Republican Party. But if it appears to benefit just a few, the wealthiest Americans, then he predicted the president was going to have problems.

Sen. GRASSLEY: Well, I think that he's right. The focus on bipartisanship and doing what Jim described is a real necessity for victory in the United States Senate.

INSKEEP: Are you mainly going to think of fixing the economy through tax breaks of one kind or another?

Sen. GRASSLEY: The answer is yes. Because a 2 ½ percent growth in the economy that we've had the last year, even though it's a pretty steady growth and pretty solid growth, is not growth enough to create jobs. And what we Republicans are interested in doing, as well as Democrats I hope, is to create jobs, and we have to get economic growth to about 3 ½ percent to create new jobs.

INSKEEP: Senator, do you expect to be able to focus on the economy in this Congress, or will you be overwhelmed by the possibility of a war against Iraq?

Sen. GRASSLEY: Well, I think we have to focus on the economy because you have to have a strong economy to have a strong basis for carrying out a war, and I think that we can do them both at the same time. I believe that we responded some economically after September the 11th. It shows not only a capability of doing it, but it also shows a necessity of doing it.

INSKEEP: One other question, Senator: After Senator Trent Lott's giving up the Republican leadership position after some controversy over some remarks he made about segregation, or that were seen as remarks about segregation, is there still some explaining for your party to do on that issue, or are you hoping that that's been put behind you?

Sen. GRASSLEY: Absolutely not. Let's say that anything that you might say out there along the lines of your question that we ought to be looking at: If Trent Lott had kept his mouth shut and not raised this issue, would you be raising those questions with Chuck Grassley right now? I think not. So consequently, I think we move ahead with the agenda that we have before us and those things that would have been on the agenda, regardless of what Trent Lott—if he had said nothing, and that's where we are.

INSKEEP: Charles Grassley is a senator from the state of Iowa and the incoming chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. Senator, thanks very much for taking the time.

Sen. GRASSLEY: Oh, glad to be with you. Thank you very much.