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Grassley speaks to FHS students
U.S. Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa visited Fairfield High School?s new 21st Century Room today where he fielded questions from a few dozen high school students.
Grassley began his talk by encouraging the students to think about becoming a Senate intern, and mentioned that many of his staffers were once interns, too. He said the reason he was able to speak at the school is because the Senate is not in ...
Andy Hallman
Sep. 30, 2018 8:38 pm
U.S. Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa visited Fairfield High School?s new 21st Century Room today where he fielded questions from a few dozen high school students.
Grassley began his talk by encouraging the students to think about becoming a Senate intern, and mentioned that many of his staffers were once interns, too. He said the reason he was able to speak at the school is because the Senate is not in session owing to the week-long holiday in honor of Memorial Day. The senator also joked about his extensive use of shorthand on Twitter, telling the students, ?I hope you know how to use it.?
Here are some of the questions the students asked Grassley:
What is your goal now? Is it to run for president?
?Oh no. I?m 82 years old,? Grassley responded.
Grassley said he is running for re-election, so he is focusing on that and his work in the Senate. He said it was very doubtful a presidential candidate would entertain the idea of picking an 82-year-old as their vice president.
What do you do for Iowa?
Grassley said schools, counties and the state often write grant requests, and when they do so they ask for letters of support, which he is usually more than happy to give them. He said he tries to represent the will of Iowans when drafting legislation or voting on bills in the Senate.
On a few issues such as national security, he cannot disclose everything he knows to his constituents because they are state secrets. In those instances, he said he sometimes has to vote against popular opinion in Iowa because he knows something the public does not.
What are some of your favorite things to do as senator?
Grassley said there is very little he does not enjoy about his work. His favorite thing is to reduce the cynicism young people have toward politics. He said a lot of people assume politicians have bad motives, and he tries to educate them that that?s not the case.
How can you get young people more interested in politics and voting?
He suggested that government would be more interesting to young people if it were more transparent, and mentioned that the United States is an exceptional country for its level of transparency and freedom.
How are laws passed?
Bills are usually drafted by attorneys who know the proper verbiage to use to obtain the desired result, he said. Bills usually need bipartisan support to pass. Grassley was asked about the bills that have come out of the committee he chairs, which is the judiciary committee. He said that, of the 30 bills that have come out of his committee, President Barack Obama has signed into law nine of them.
What are some recent bills you?ve been working on?
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Grassley have been working on the Military Justice Improvement Act, which would alter how the military treats sexual assault cases. Currently, such cases are handled internally by the military. Grassley said that has not been working well, and cited instances where a rape victim was demoted for coming forward against her alleged rapist, while the alleged rapist was shielded from prosecution by a general higher up the chain of command.
?It?s a culture that?s got to be changed,? Grassley said.
What are some of the changes you?ve made to education?
Grassley said Congress recently significantly changed the No Child Left Behind Act, a move he supported. Though he voted for the original legislation in 2001, it did not turn out the way he hoped and got the federal government too heavily involved in education.
How have you balanced your work and personal life?
Work in the U.S. Senate is nearly all-consuming and he can?t take a break from it.
?When you harvest your crops at the end of the year, you feel like you?re done for a while,? he said. ?When you clock out at the end of the day, you feel like you?re done. In the U.S. Senate, it never ends.?
Grassley mentioned that he took a call on a recent Sunday morning from a farmer complaining about federal regulations on how he mowed his land near a steam. Grassley said fielding such a weekend call is rare, but it?s something he has to do as a public servant.
How has your time in the Senate affected your family?
Grassley and his wife Barbara have five children. The senator said his children were fortunate to have a mother who could serve as both mother and father while he was away tending to state affairs.
?I was not as good a father as I could have been,? he said. ?My wife deserves all the credit.?
How do you plan to prevent gun violence?
The 1996 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, commonly known by its acronym HIPAA, regulates the disclose of protected health information, among other things. Grassley said the act must be modified so that retailers can deny a gun to a person with mental health problems, which he believes are responsible for many shootings.