-9999

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. GRASSLEY. Madam President, ladies and gentlemen of the Senate, 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 29, 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 have spent the last 5 weeks, while the Senate was not in session, convening with Iowans in every corner of the 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 point of view with me. Now, I am bringing their concerns to my colleagues here in the Congress. Even though you don't represent Iowans, you need to know what they are 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 that they are feeling each time they fill up their gas tank.

The administration's assault on fossil fuels and lackluster support for homegrown biofuels isn't helping. Young Americans, as well as young Iowans, in particular, are concerned about the record high mortgage rates hindering homeownership. 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 are a great agricultural State, is the timing of the upcoming farm bill. I held a meeting with Lamoni Food Pantry to learn about their nutrition services there in Decatur County. And they were also concerned about the SNAP program within the farm bill.

I also 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 usually I do, with a Snickers Blizzard at the Dairy Queen in Onawa, IA. All this doesn't mean that my work is over because I am going to continue, between now and the end of the year, to hold more Q&As throughout this period of time. And I hope to see my fellow Iowans soon at football games, businesses large and small, or a Dairy Queen near any one of them.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. GRASSLEY. What am I doing?

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. GRASSLEY. Well, so far I have been lucky enough to keep them open. As far as I know, there is only one that closed in the last 12 months in Iowa.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source