T-R PHOTO BY LANA BRADSTREAM Sen. Chuck Grassley answers questions from attendees during his town hall at MEMBERS1st Community Credit Union in Marshalltown on Thursday. Every year, Grassley visits all 99 counties to speak with his constituents.

With topics ranging from housing to healthcare, from food prices to economic development, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) answered questions from roughly 30 attendees during his annual Marshall County town hall meeting at MEMBERS1st Community Credit Union in Marshalltown on Thursday.

The senator began the meeting by saying there are two things he would like to accomplish this year, but is not confident he will succeed. The first is passing the Farm Bill and the second is tackling high prescription drug prices. Grassley is not certain those two will be finished because of the shortened amount of time people work in the Senate.

“I’m a little embarrassed to tell you, but even though I’m the senior member of the United States Senate, I don’t run the Senate. (Chuck) Schumer runs the Senate,” he said.

Grassley compared the typical week to when he was first elected decades ago. Senators used to begin at 10 a.m. on Monday and work until 5 p.m. on Friday. Now, he said the first vote of the week generally happens at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, giving the senators the option to not get to the Capitol until 4 p.m., even though Grassley begins his week at 9:30 a.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays are full of work.

“But by Thursday at 2 p.m., the Senate is done for the most part,” he said. “We’ve been in session [for two weekends] when something didn’t get done on time. All I’m trying to tell you is the problems in this country are so bad, you can’t solve them if you’re only meeting, debating and amending two and half days a week. You’re paying the taxes. I hate to tell you that, but that’s the way the Senate is run the last four years.”

Grassley then opened the floor for questions or criticisms. The first was whether or not he had seen anything to alleviate the housing crisis in Iowa. He gave a brief explanation of how the federal government is trying to fix it through low-income housing. The investors who utilize the tax credits by building low-income housing do not usually build in towns with smaller populations, Grassley said.

“It just hasn’t worked very well,” he said. “This has been a problem for 10 years.”

Grassley also addressed the rising cost of food, and added that the federal government might be able to provide relief from prices going up, but not for going down.

“Even if we got inflation down to zero, for a family of four in Iowa, there is $7,600 burned in to your annual food budget for the rest of your life,” he said. “That isn’t going to go down. Deflation is worse than inflation . . . Government can do something about it not getting worse, but taking away what’s bad for you is pretty difficult.”

Marshall County Supervisor Carol Hibbs inquired about economic development. She said the supervisors are trying to achieve economic development in the county outside of the city limits of Marshalltown. Grassley told her the Economic Development Administration would be the likely source for help, and added that the Farm Bill could provide some help.

“If a town wants to set up a plot of land to bring in industry for development, there is some help that way,” Grassley said. “There’s some help in the highway fund getting to those areas. It’s all for infrastructure. It’s not much for actually getting businesses there.”

Marshalltown Area Chamber of Commerce President and CEO John Hall brought up significant businesses shutting down or downsizing in the state, such as meat processing plants closing and John Deere laying off workers. With JBS being Marshalltown’s largest employer, he asked Grassley what he was working on to boost the ag economy in Iowa to keep industries well supported.

To answer, Grassley briefly spoke about how tariffs can damage farmers and the industry. He said the Farm Bill is not going to provide more money for exports. While the majority of senators used to believe in free trade, that is no longer the case, but he still adheres to it. Grassley added the 2017 tax bill ends next year, and if Congress does not act the biggest tax increase in the history of the country will occur.

Iowa Valley Community College District President (IVCCD) Anne Howsare Boyens asked Grassley to speak about changes made to federal financial aid for college. Grassley told her there is a proposal he supports that provides Pell grants to people who have obtained career certificates, such as for plumbing. He said legislation was passed to simplify the financial aid application process, but it has not been simplified.

“You’d like to have me say I’m going to fix it, but I can’t say that,” Grassley said.

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Contact Lana Bradstream

at 641-753-6611 ext. 210 or

lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.