Transcription Of Senator Grassley's Conference Call With Iowa Reporters

Interview

GRASSLEY: We're fortunate to have the secretary of HUD in Iowa
today getting a firsthand look at the devastation incurred by our
state just one year ago. Secretary Donovan is going to see a great
deal of progress in our communities, but I think he'll also be taken
aback to see that there's a great amount of tragedy that can still be
seen.

This is the one-year anniversary of historic floods. We're still
rebuilding, trying to restore communities. Unfortunately, there's no
shortcut to the road to recovery. The announcement that Iowa will
receive more than $500 million of community development block grant
money is welcome.

We've been working as a congressional delegation with HUD over a
long period of time to ensure that Iowa gets a fair share. We know
this won't be the end of our state's needs, but whatever we're getting
at this point is greatly appreciated, particularly, for homeowners
that are waiting to get settlement.

Maybe I ought to reflect myself on something I year later. It's
hard it forget what I saw last year in people's eyes, but we can also
be thankful for the selfless act of sacrifice of people across our
state and our nation coming in to help those who lost everything.

Iowans do pull together to save lives, livestock, and
livelihoods. And I think we ought to be proud of that characteristic
that we have. I refer to it as the Iowa work ethic or maybe, more
inclusively, the Midwestern work ethic that we don't see in other
parts of the country a lot of times when there's tragedy.

You call the names, will you please?

STAFF: Mike Glover?

QUESTION: Yes, Senator. Is the $517 million enough?

GRASSLEY: No. But here's the way this generally works. We're
-- we're -- we're in a situation where I'd like to see the federal
government as an insurer of last resort. And usually when it comes to
natural disasters, like for instance if your question is if it's in
the enough and I said it probably won't be enough, then will we get
more? Generally, for natural disasters and not just great floods like
we had in Eastern Iowa but earthquakes and Katrina and tornadoes, et
cetera, et cetera, these monies are usually replenished by consensus.

QUESTION: OK.

STAFF: Kerry Cathcart?

Mike Myers?

QUESTION: Senator, there are -- there seem to be many proposals
coming out on health care reform. The committee chairman now, of
course, Mr. Baucus and you, have got your plan. The House is coming
out with stuff. And there's calls that it's disorganized and others
saying that it's all targeted and it's coming together as planned.

Where are we on this now in early June?

GRASSLEY: Well, the president is going to apply a very important
role. And I just came from a meeting with President Obama that
included Biden, his health czar, Nancy-Ann DeParle, Senator Dodd,
Senator Enzi, and Senator Baucus. And this might be one example of
possibilities of getting a bill.

GRASSLEY: To answer your question, where are we, there's a heck
of a lot of agreement, but the agreements are on some non-
controversial things. When I say non-controversial, they're pretty
sweeping, though, in changing health care. But there's a consensus
that they ought to be done, but, you know, there's three or four
things out there that are very controversial.

And the president, I thought, was very flexible except on one
thing, and that was getting it done. He wants to get it done and
wants to keep momentum for this going. And so I think that, you know,
when the president is flexible on controversial things like you and I
talk about and other people on this program hear me talk about, I
think that that's good news.

Now, maybe tomorrow, there will be bad news. You know, but we're
moving ahead towards markup pretty soon. And so crunch time tends to
solve a lot of things that are not thought out or not compromised out
at this point, Mike. And so, consequently, you just keep pushing
ahead.

QUESTION: Well, sir, it seems like the big rock we're coming up
against is over the Blue Dogs in the House and others that -- about
this public plan maintaining -- competing with the government's plan.
Is that the big nut you have to crack?

GRASSLEY: That issue is one that has to crack, yes. And -- but
I can't comment on what the Blue Dogs say about it. So I can't
comment on that part of it, but I can comment on -- just on that very
major issue, one of four or five major issues that have to be dealt
with yet that -- I was working off of a sheet of paper yesterday that
five or six of us were sitting down trying to talk compromise. And it
had five or six different suggested approaches.

So, you know, we're still working hard to get it, but nothing's
been decided yet.

QUESTION: Thank you.

STAFF: Joe Morton?

Jim Boyd?

Mary Rae Bragg?

QUESTION: Senator, there was reports of your Twitter comments
about the president in Europe talking about the need to hurry on to
health care. And I'm wondering, in light of the visit that you just
had with the president, are your concerns somewhat abated?

GRASSLEY: Well, first of all, I didn't resent having the
president have a night out with his family or sightseeing in Paris.
So if that was what people thought that was all I was talking about,
no.

What I was trying to do is express frustration with the president
who knows we're working hard and even expressed at this meeting today
how hard we were working -- that he would say you've got to get it
done. You know, our staffs were working those very Saturdays that he
said that.

And, obviously, each of us members are involved when our staff is
involved. Sometimes, we're personally involved. And he knew that.
And I didn't appreciate the comment while he was -- in other words, he
just shouldn't have made it because he knew how hard we were working.
He even knew we were on schedule.

So why would he say, you know, Congress -- in a sense, Congress
has got to quit dithering and get the job done?

QUESTION: OK. Thank you, sir.

STAFF: Ed Tibbetts? Tim Rowher?

QUESTION: Yes, Senator. I understand that you've expressed
concern for the Judiciary Committee that, on July 13th is the start
date for the Supreme Court nominee, Sonia Sotomayor. I mean, is that
too early? And why do you think they set that date?

GRASSLEY: Well, I don't know. But there's four things that's
wrong with this being done. One is how it was done. It was done in a
partisan way. And, usually, for Supreme Court justices, it's kind of
worked in a bipartisan way even if there's partisan differences on
whether somebody's good or bad for the job.

The second one is the American Bar Association hasn't given us
their rating of her yet, and we ought to have that. I don't put much
value in the ABA rating, but some of my members do, and they ought to
have the benefit of it.

And then she's got 3,000 cases she's been involved in. So
they're saying, well, Roberts was taken up that fast. He only had two
years on the court circuit before he came. She's got 13 years, I
believe. We've got to go through all of those and all of her
speeches, all of her interviews.

And her -- lastly, her questionnaire that she filled out for the
committee is not complete. So we need all that information. And it
takes time to go through 3,000 cases.

STAFF: Bret Hayworth?

QUESTION: Yes, Senator. When you cited four problem there with
the Sotomayor July start date. The first one you said it was done in
a partisan way, and I'm not sure that I follow...

GRASSLEY: OK. Well, usually, the Democrat chairman would
consult with Mr. Sessions, the Republican leader on the committee.
And they would jointly agree to a certain date, and that wasn't done.
It was just done by Chairman Leahy.

Now, he has the authority to do it, so you can't question his
authority. But on something as important as a justice of the Supreme
Court, you would expect that, as it has been in the past, pretty much
the date set and a program set in a bipartisan way.

QUESTION: So to paraphrase, what you're saying is a courtesy
should have been extended to the Republican member on the committee?

GRASSLEY: Yes.

QUESTION: OK. And going back a few minutes ago, if I could have
a follow-up. You talked about four to five main sticking issues on
the health care. I don't want to get too deep into that, I guess, but
you said you've spoken about that recently with other reporters. I
haven't been on the last few conference calls.

Could you lay out one or two of the sticking problems?

GRASSLEY: Yes. I'll try to lay them out. A board of health
that would make a lot of health care decisions instead of Congress
making them, so you set up a board to make a lot of decisions, I don't
think that's an issue with the Finance Committee, but I think it's
still an issue with the Health Committee.

QUESTION: Uh-huh.

GRASSLEY: Something called pay -- no, I said that wrong.
Something called play or pay.

QUESTION: Yes?

GRASSLEY: In other words, if John Deere would drop their health
plan, they'd still pay a fee into the federal Treasury for the health
care costs of their patrolmen.

QUESTION: OK.

GRASSLEY: And then there's what we call a government plan that
would be in competition with private health plans like Blue Cross and
then how to finance it.

QUESTION: And as far as financing it, what are some things that
you may have stricken out? I think you talked, perhaps, about the pop
tax or some of those...

GRASSLEY: Well, that's a nuisance tax.

QUESTION: OK.

GRASSLEY: And something the federal government has. And I think
it's ridiculous to put a tax on chocolate milk.

QUESTION: Do you think that's a non-starter issue?

GRASSLEY: Yes. It is. It is.

QUESTION: For a lot of senators?

GRASSLEY: I think even for most Democrats, I think it is.

QUESTION: OK.

GRASSLEY: And then I think that most -- most of it would fall
into the area -- are you going to bring a lot of revenue in from
outside of health care? Or are you going to do it within health care?
And I think Republicans are pretty united in that it ought to come
within health care.

QUESTION: Thank you.

STAFF: Jennifer Jacbobs?

QUESTION: Senator, back to the Twittering issue for a second.
I'm assuming it's pretty popular with some people in Iowa, but can you
say whether it's become a distraction? Is it something you'll likely
keep doing? And then if you do keep doing it, can we be assured that
it always is you speaking and not your staff?

GRASSLEY: Well, I only do it through my BlackBerry.

QUESTION: Uh-huh.

GRASSLEY: And so only I carry my BlackBerry. And I don't have
staff with me except when I'm in my office. So when I did this from
New Hartford on Saturday, you know, I did it because I don't have
staff with me at my farm.

QUESTION: Uh-huh. Is it a distraction? Do you think you'll
keep doing it?

GRASSLEY: Well, of course, I'll keep doing it. And don't --
you've got to look at Tweeting in this environment. I've tried to use
every latest technology to keep in touch with constituents.
Representative government is a two-way street. I'm one half of that,
my constituent's the other. I'm one half, and you've got to have
communication to have representative government work.

So, you know, town meetings in Iowa are obvious. They're face-
to-face. Letters are obvious because they've been around for ever
since we've had a United States government for people to communicate
and congressmen to use those for representative government.

Then I started 25 years ago satellite feeds back to Iowa on a Q&A
once a month. Just four months ago, I started doing it by telephone.
So last night, I did a telephone town meeting for people in southeast
Iowa. We generally get about 800 people to call into an 800 number.
Sometimes we get 3,000 calling in, but 800 that stay on for a greater
part of the hour that we're on.

So -- and then you, you know, I've got a Web page. I've got
Facebook. I've got MySpace. I do a blog -- I mean, a webcast. I do
a five-minute thing like the president does on Saturdays. I do that
on Thursdays or Fridays. It's on YouTube.

So Twittering is just the latest thing I'm doing to keep in touch
th constituents or to keep constituents up to date on what's going
on in the Congress. And probably some 15-year-old would tell me I'm a
generation behind already.

QUESTION: Thank you.

QUESTION: Senator, if I may -- Mike Myers.

Do you still feel confident, sir, you've got your hands around
this health care issue? It's -- we're in the summer. You've talked
about it's got to be done this year. You've got the Sotomayor
nomination thrown into the mix now.

Is delay really beginning to see a problem if you can't put it
all together and get your hands on it and have it conferencing by
August?

GRASSLEY: Well, you know, what you're saying is more set by
Senator Baucus than me. And a week from Tuesday, he intends to start
markup. So, you know, I've got my hands around 80 percent of it that
we've been -- some aspects of it, you know, we've been thinking we've
got to make changes, maybe, for the last seven or eight years. You
know, like moving from reimbursement based on volume to reimbursement
based on value or maybe you call it pay for performance.

Those things can be controversial about how you carry them out,
but they aren't controversial that they need to be done to eliminate
the perverse incentives in medicine that drive up cost. But when it
comes to play or pay or government plan or an individual mandate or an
employer mandate or no mandate, those I would not have my hands around
yet.

QUESTION: Or arms around. And you've got the political aspect
you've got to control as well.

GRASSLEY: What?

QUESTION: You've got the political aspect of Charlie Rangel.
There's a lot of political forces involved in this. That's the part
where I'm talking about beyond the legislative policy matters is
this...

GRASSLEY: No. It's still pretty disjointed. It doesn't get --
it doesn't really get pinpointed until you get to conference.

QUESTION: A follow-up if I may. Did the president have any
comment on your Twitter?

GRASSLEY: I think he joked something about, Chuck, I thought it
was important that I be in Normandy or something like that as a
recall. And I agree with him that he should have been there.

QUESTION: Thank you.

STAFF: Anybody else?

QUESTION: Senator, when you said that Senator Baucus intends to
start the markup on that health care bill a week from Tuesday, was
that a week from yesterday or a week from this coming Tuesday?

GRASSLEY: No, I think it was -- now, it would it be -- let's
see, the 19th is -- yes, it would be a week from the next Tuesday, two
weeks from yesterday.

QUESTION: OK. On the 23rd then?

GRASSLEY: I think so. Is that the 23rd? Whatever that is. I
think it's on a Tuesday we're going to meet for the first time.

QUESTION: Great. Thank you.

GRASSLEY: OK. Anybody else? OK. Thank you all very much.

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