Sen. Grassley answers many questions during Alum-Line visit

CRESCO - Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) took time out of his busy schedule to visit Alum-Line in Cresco on Friday, May 4, and answer several questions from Alum-Line employees.

Grassley was greeted by Alum-Line President Gary Gooder at the main office on Highway 9. After Gooder gave Grassley a tour of the south expansion building across from H & S Motors, Grassley stopped by the main plant across from the Howard County Fairground to meet employees and answer questions.

Grassley made a few remarks before taking questions.

“I’m not here to give a speech,” Grassley said. “I’m here to try to answer any questions you want to ask me. If anyone disagrees with anything I’ve done in Washington D.C., I want to give them a chance to tell me that face-to-face. I make a point to visit every county every year. People can also reach me by e-mail, regular mail or call my office. Being a representative is a two-way street.”

Grassley’s first question was regarding tariffs and his opinion on them.

“The President (Trump) is initiating the discussion of tariffs from the mind of a business person,” Grassley said. “Trump is doing what he had done as a business person, which is to negotiate with other countries. 

“On trade, the President is trying to carry out what he talked about during the campaign. The trouble is that he needs to work with Congress, who has a different view. The President is threatening tariffs with steel and aluminum. He maybe goes to the brink (with tariffs), but if he doesn’t go over the brink, then we might get a better deal (with other countries).

“With North Korea, we might have a chance to have peace. Trump didn’t do anything more than other Presidents did with sanctions, but he also got China to cooperate and he’s tightened the screws more than other Presidents did. I’m nervous about retaliation (from other countries), but we might be making progress,” Grassley said.

The next questioner asked where Grassley stood on the issue of assault weapons and gun control.

“We have to do a lot more to make schools safe, but I don’t think doing away with guns is one of the solutions,” Grassley said. “I don’t want Congress to pass a law to arm or to not arm teachers. I think we should leave that decision up to the local schools. If Cresco wants to arm its teachers, that’s who should make the decision.”

Grassley was asked his stance on DACA, which stands for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.

“I had a bill up, and there was another bill which went a different direction, and neither bill got the 60 votes needed,” Grassley said. “Right now, nothing is happening. When the (immigrant) parents came here, they broke the law, but I don’t want the kids of those parents considered as people who broke the law. My bill would legalize DACA over 12 years and give the kids a path to citizenship.

“In addition to DACA, I think we need to have 25 billion dollars go to border security including the wall. We also need to do away with chain migration, which brings in people’s third cousins. The next thing involves doing away with the VISA lottery,” Grassley said.

Grassley was asked his thoughts on the Special Council Bob Mueller investigation regarding Trump with Russia.

“There was no collusion with Russia,” Grassley said. “I’ve been accused of trying to thwart the investigation between Trump and Russia. We did investigate that, but some things we investigated took us back to Clinton’s e-mail. We take the facts where the facts lead us, which is what Mueller would say he is doing.”

The next questioner asked if Trump had the right to fire Jim Comey.

“Trump thinks he has that right,” Grassley said. “Anyone that I trust said that it’s stupid to sit down with Mueller because they could get you for lying under oath. It’s a mousetrap. I’d advise Trump not to go down that road.

“I would also advise Trump that he should not threaten to fire Mueller. If he did that, it would blow everything up he wants to accomplish. He shouldn’t do it because it would be political suicide. They less he talked about it, the stronger he would be. Also, if he tweeted bit less, that would help. Before he hits send, he should also let his wife read his tweets. I’m just trying to help the President, but he doesn’t take advice from me.”

Grassley was asked his opinion about the new Farm Bill.

“The new bill will be written soon, but I don’t know when it will get to the floor (for a vote),” Grassley said. “If it doesn’t get to the floor by August 1, we need to extend the current bill until the 2019 crop year. I think we will preserve crop insurance and the CRP (Conservation Reserve Program).”

Grassley added that he continues to support renewable energy and wind energy. He also wants to continue the tax credit for ethanol and biodiesel.

The final question posed to Grassley was if he thought America was becoming a laughingstock to other countries with regards to the events going on with President Trump.

“From the standpoint of his approval rating, you could draw that conclusion,” Grassley said. “More (of the opinion of Trump) comes from what he says than what he does. 

“Trump made a lot of outrageous statements during the campaign. Now that he’s in office, he realizes there is a different way to operate. To answer the question (regarding if America is a laughingstock), I’d say yes, but it’s in the process of being modified a little bit,” Grassley said.